LIBRARY 

OK   THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Class 


ROBERT  E.   LEE 

THE  SOUTHERNER 


ROBERT  E.   LEE 

THE   SOUTHERNER 


BY 

THOMAS    NELSON    PAGE 


Kd/j,e6a  rots  Kelvuv  ^fj-affi. 


WITH  PORTRAIT 


OF  THE 

f  UNIVERSITY 

OF 

k  \ssf4LiFc-- 


CHARLES   SCRIBNER',8   SONS 
NEW  YORK     :     :     :     :     :     1908 


COPYRIGHT,  igo8,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Published  October,  1908 


TO  THE  MEMORY  OF 

"AS  GALLANT  AND  BRAVE  AN  ARMY 

AS  EVER  EXISTED": 

THE  ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA! 

ON  WHOSE  IMPERISHABLE  DEEDS 

AND  INCOMPARABLE  CONSTANCY 

THE  FAME  OF  THEIR  OLD   COMMANDER 

WAS  FOUNDED 


176307 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

INTRODUCTORY ix 

I.    EARLY  LIFE 3 

II.    FIRST  SERVICE 13 

III.  THE  CHOICE  OF  HERCULES 30 

IV.  RESOURCES       57 

V.    LEE  IN  WEST  VIRGINIA 71 

VI.    THE  SITUATION  WHEN  LEE  TOOK  COM 
MAND    84 

VII.    BATTLES  AROUND   RICHMOND     ....  96 

VIII.    LEE  RELIEVES  RICHMOND 109 

IX.     LEE'S  AUDACITY— ANTIETAM  AND  CHAN- 

CELLORSVILLE 122 

X.    LEE'S  CLEMENCY 153 

XL     GETTYSBURG 174 

XII.    THE  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN      .     .     .     .204 

XIII.  LEE  AND  GRANT 213 

XIV.  THE  RETREAT  TO  APPOMATTOX      .    .     .  237 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XV.    LEE  IN  DEFEAT 253 

XVI.    AFTER  THE  WAR 261 

XVII.    LEE  AS  COLLEGE  PRESIDENT     ....  269 

XVIII.     SOURCES  OF  CHARACTER 284 

XIX.    THE  HERITAGE  OF  THE  SOUTH       .     .     .290 

APPENDIX 293 

INDEX 307 


INTRODUCTORY 

/1pHIS  sketch  of  a  great  Virginian  is  not  wnt\ 
ten  with  the  expectation  or  with  even  the 
hope  that  the  writer  can  add  anything  to  the 
fame  of  Lee;  but  rather  in  obedience  to  a 
feeling  that  as  the  son  of  a  Confederate  soldier, 
as  a  Southerner,  as  an  American,  he  owes  some 
thing  to  himself  and  to  his  countrymen,  which  he 
should  endeavor  to  pay,  though  it  may  be  but  a 
mite  cast  into  the  Treasury  of  Abundance.  / 

The  subject  is  not  one  to  be  dealt  with  in  the 
language  of  eulogy.  To  attempt  to  decorate  it 
with  panegyric  would  but  belittle  it.  What  the 
, writer  proposes  to  say  will  be  based  upon  public 
records,  or  on  the  testimony  of  those  personal 
witnesses  who  by  character  and  opportunity  for 
observation  would  be  held  to  furnish  evidence 
by  which  the  gravest  concerns  of  life  would  be 
decided. 

True  enough  it  is,  Lee  was  assailed — and  as 
sailed  with  a  rancor  and  persistence  which  have 
undoubtedly  left  their  deep  impression  on  the 
minds  of  a  large  section  of  his  countrymen;  but 
as  the  years  pass  by,  the  passions  and  prejudices 


IX 


x  INTRODUCTORY 

which  attempted  to  destroy  him  have  been  grad 
ually  giving  place  to  a  juster  conception  of  the 
lineaments  of  Truth. 

"Seest  thou  not  how  they  revile  thee?"  said 
a  youth  to  Diogenes. 

"Yea/*  replied  the  Philosopher.  "But  seest 
thou  not  how  I  am  not  reviled  ? " 

Thus,  as  we  read  to-day  of  the  reviling  of 
Lee  by  those  who  under  the  sway  of  passion 
endeavored  to  stigmatize  with  the  terms,  "  Reb 
el"  and  "Traitor/'  one  whom  history  is  already 
proclaiming,  possibly,  the  loftiest  character  of 
his  time,  the  soul  is  filled,  not  so  much  with 
loathing  for  their  malignity,  as  with  pity  for 
their  blindness. 

Unhappily,  the  world  judges  mainly  by  the 
measure  of  success,  and  though  Time  hath  his 
revenges,  and  finally  rights  many  wrongs,  the 
man  who  fails  of  an  immediate  end  appears  to 
the  body  of  his  contemporaries,  and  often  to 
the  generations  following,  to  be  a  failure.  Yet 
from  such  seed  as  this  have  sprung  the  richest 
fruits  of  civilization.  In  the  Divine  Economy, 
indeed,  appears  a  wonderful  mystery.  Through 
all  the  history  of  sublime  endeavor  would  seem 
to  run  the  strange  truth  enunciated  by  the  Di 
vine  Master:  that,  He  who  loses  his  life  for  the 
sake  of  the  Truth  shall  find  it. 


INTRODUCTORY  xi 

But  although,  as  was  said  by  the  eloquent 
Holcombe  of  Lee  just  after  his  death,  "No  cal 
umny  can  ever  darken  his  fame,  for  History  has 
lighted  up  his  image  with  her  everlasting  lamp," 
yet  after  forty  years  there  appears  in  certain 
quarters  a  tendency  to  rank  General  Lee,  as  a 
soldier,  among  those  captains  who  failed.  Some 
historians,  looking  with  narrow  vision  at  but  one 
side,  and  many  readers  ignorant  of  all  the  facts, 
honestly  take  this  view.  A  general  he  was,  they 
say,  able  enough  for  defense;  but  he  was  uni 
formly  defeated  when  he  took  the  offensive. 
He  failed  at  Antietam,  he  was  defeated  at  Get 
tysburg;  he  could  not  drive  Grant  out  of  Vir 
ginia;  therefore  he  must  be  classed  among  cap 
tains  of  the  second  rank  only. 

Iteration  and  reiteration,  to  the  ordinary  ob 
server,  however  honest  he  may  be,  gather  ac 
cumulated  force  and  oftentimes  usurp  the  place 
of  truth.  The  Public  has  not  time  nor  does  it 
care  to  go  deeper  than  the  ordinary  presentation 
of  a  case.  It  is  possible,  therefore,  that  unless 
the  truth  be  set  forth  so  plainly  that  it  cannot 
be  mistaken,  this  estimate  of  Lee  as  a  Captain 
may  in  time  become  established  as  a  general, 
if  not  as  the  universal  opinion  of  the  Public. 

If,  however,  Lee's  reputation  becomes  estab 
lished  as  among  the  second  class  of  captains, 


xii  INTRODUCTORY 

rather  than  as  among  the  first,  the  responsibility 
for  it  will  rest,  not  upon  Northern  writers,  but 
upon  the  Southerners  themselves.  For  the  facts 
are  plain. 

We  of  the  South  have  been  wont  to  leave  the 
writing  of  history  mainly  to  others,  and  it  is  far 
from  a  complete  excuse  that  whilst  others  were 
writing  history  we  were  making  it.  It  is  as  much 
the  duty  of  a  people  to  disprove  any  charge 
blackening  their  fame  as  it  is  of  an  individual. 
Indeed,  the  injury  is  infinitely  more  far-reach 
ing  in  the  former  case  than  in  the  case  of  an 
individual. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  purpose  to  undertake  to 
discuss  critically  the  great  campaigns  which 
Lee  conducted  or  battles  which  he  fought.  This 
I  must  leave  to  those  military  scholars  whose  ex 
perience  entitles  their  judgment  to  respect.  I 
shall  mainly  confine  myself  to  setting  forth  the 
conditions  which  existed  and  the  results  of  the 
manner  in  which  he  met  the  forces  which  con 
fronted  him. 

It  is,  therefore,  rather  of  Lee,  the  man,  that 
I  propose  to  speak  in  this  brief  memoir,  though 
incidentally  I  shall  endeavor  to  direct  the  read 
er's  thought  to  one  especial  phase  of  his  work 
as  a  soldier,  for  it  appears  to  me  to  illustrate 
the  peculiar  fibre  which  distinguished  him 


INTRODUCTORY  xiii 

from  other  great  Captains  and  other  great  men. 
His  character  I  deem  absolutely  the  fruit  of  the 
Virginian  civilization  which  existed  in  times 
past.  No  drop  of  blood  alien  to  Virginia 
coursed  in  his  veins;  his  rearing  was  wholly 
within  her  borders  and  according  to  the  prin 
ciples  of  her  life. 

Whatever  of  praise  or  censure,  therefore, 
shall  be  his  must  fall  fairly  on  his  mother,  Vir 
ginia,  and  the  civilization  which  existed  within 
her  borders.  The  history  of  Lee  is  the  history 
of  the  South  during  the  greatest  crisis  of  her 
existence.  For  with  his  history  is  bound  up  the 
history  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  on 
whose  imperishable  deeds  and  incomparable 
constancy  rests  his  fame. 

The  reputation  of  the  South  has  suffered  be 
cause  we  have  allowed  rhetoric  to  usurp  the 
place  of  history.  We  have  furnished  many 
orators,  but  few  historians.  But  all  history  at 
last  must  be  the  work  not  of  the  orator,  but  of 
the  historian.  Truth,  simply  stated,  like  chas 
tity  in  a  woman's  face,  is  its  own  best  advocate; 
its  simplest  presentation  is  its  strongest  proof. 

It  is  then,  not  to  Lee  the  Victorious,  that  the 
writer  asks  his  reader's  attention,  but  to  that 
greater  Lee:  the  Defeated. 


ROBERT  E.  LEE, 
THE  SOUTHERNER 


ROBERT  E.  LEE,  THE  SOUTHERNER 


"  A  Prince  once  said  of  a  Monarch  slain, 
'Taller  he  seems  in  Death.'" 


CHAPTER  I 

EARLY  LIFE 

/^\N  a  plateau  about  a  mile  from  the  south 
bank  of  the  Potomac  River,  in  the  old  Colo 
nial  County  of  Westmoreland,  in  what  used  to  be 
known  as  the  "Northern  Neck,"  that  portion  of 
Virginia  which  Charles  II.  in  his  heedlessness 
once  undertook  to  grant  to  his  friends  and  favor 
ites,  Culpeper  and  Arlington,  stands  a  massive 
brick  mansion,  one  of  the  most  impressive  piles 
of  brick  on  this  continent,  which  even  in  its  di 
lapidation  looks  as  though  it  might  have  been 
built  by  Elizabeth  and  bombarded  by  Cromwell. 
It  was  built  by  Thomas  Lee,  grandson  of  Rich 
ard  Lee,  the  emigrant,  who  came  to  Virginia 
about  1641-2,  and  founded  a  family  which  has 
numbered  among  its  members  as  many  men  of 
distinction  as  any  family  in  America.  It  was 

3 


4  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

through  him  that  Charles  II.,  when  an  exile  in 
Brussels,  is  said  to  have  been  offered  an  asylum 
and  a  Kingdom  in  Virginia.  When  the  first 
mansion  erected  was  destroyed  by  fire,  Queen 
Anne,  in  recognition  of  the  services  of  her 
faithful  Counsellor  in  Virginia,  sent  over  a 
liberal  contribution  towards  its  rebuilding.  It 
bears  the  old  English  name,  Stratford,  after  the 
English  estate  of  Richard  Lee,  and  for  many 
generations — down  to  the  last  generation,  it  was 
the  home  of  the  Lees  of  Virginia. 

This  mansion  has  a  unique  distinction  among 
historical  houses  in  this  country;  for  in  one  of 
its  chambers  were  born  two  signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence:  Richard  Henry 
Lee,  who,  in  obedience  to  the  mandate  of  the 
Virginia  Convention,  moved  the  Resolution  in 
Congress  to  declare  the  Colonies  free  and  inde 
pendent  States,  and  Francis  Lightfoot  Lee,  his 
brother.  But  it  has  a  yet  greater  distinction. 
In  one  of  its  chambers  was  born  on  the  iQth  of 
January,  1807,  Robert  E.  Lee,  whom  we  of  the 
South  believe  to  have  been  not  only  the  greatest 
soldier  of  his  time,  and  the  greatest  captain  of 
the  English-speaking  race,  but  the  loftiest  char 
acter  of  his  generation;  one  rarely  equalled, 
and  possibly  never  excelled,  in  all  the  annals  of 
the  human  race.^ 


EARLY  LIFE  5 

His  reputation  as  a  soldier  has  been  dealt  with 
by  those  much  better  fitted  to  speak  of  it  than 
I;  and  in  what  I  have  to  say  as  to  this  I  shall 
but  follow  them.  The  campaigns  in  which  that 
reputation  was  achieved  are  now  the  studies  of 
all  military  students  throughout  the  world,  quite 
as  much  as  are  the  campaigns  of  Hannibal  and 
Caesar,  of  Cromwell  and  Marlborough;  of  Na 
poleon  and  Wellington. 

"According  to  my  notion  of  military  history," 
says  Field-Marshal  Viscount  Wolseley,  "  there  is 
as  much  instruction  both  in  strategy  and  in 
tactics  to  be  gleaned  from  General  Lee's  oper 
ations  of  1862  as  there  is  to  be  found  in  Na 
poleon's  campaigns  of  1796." 

Robert  Edward  Lee  was  the  second  son  of 
"Light  Horse  Harry"  Lee  (who  in  his  youth 
had  been  the  gallant  young  commander  of  the 
"Partisan  Legion")  and  of  Anne  Carter,  of 
Shirley,  his  second  wife,  a  pious  and  gracious 
representative  of  the  old  Virginia  family  whose 
home  still  stands  in  simple  dignity  upon  the 
banks  of  the  James,  and  has  been  far-famed 
for  generations  as  one  of  the  best  known  seats 
of  the  old  Virginia  hospitality.  In  his  veins 
flowed  the  best  blood  of  the  gentry  of  the  Old 
Dominion  and,  for  that  matter,  of  England, 
and  surrounding  his  life  from  his  earliest  child- 


6  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

hood  were  the  best  traditions  of  the  old  Virginia 
life.  Amid  these,  and  these  alone,  he  grew  to 
manhood.  On  both  sides  of  his  house  his  an 
cestors  for  generations  had  been  councillors 
and  governors  of  Virginia,  and  had  contributed 
their  full  share  towards  Virginia's  greatness. 
Richard  Lee  was  a  scion  of  an  old  family,  an 
cient  enough  to  have  fought  at  Hastings  and 
to  have  followed  Richard  of  the  Lion  Heart  to 
the  Holy  Land.*  On  this  side  of  the  water  they 
had  ever  stood  among  the  highest.  The  history 
of  no  two  families  was  more  indissolubly  bound 
up  with  the  history  of  Virginia  than  that  of  the 
Lees  and  the  Carters.  Thus,  Lee  was  essentially 
the  type  of  the  Cavalier  of  the  Old  Dominion  to 
whom  she  owed  so  much  of  her  glory.  Like  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh  he  could  number  a  hundred 
gentlemen  among  his  kindred  and,  even  at  his 
greatest,  he  was  in  character  the  type  of  his  order. 
It  has  been  well  said  that  knowledge  of  a 
man's  ideals  is  the  key  to  his  character.  Tell  us 
his  ideals  and  we  can  tell  you  what  manner  of 
man  he  is.  Lee's  ideal  character  was  close  at 
hand  from  his  earliest  boyhood.  His  earliest 
days  were  spent  in  a  region  filled  with  traditions 
of  him  who,  having  consecrated  his  life  to  duty, 
had  attained  such  a  standard  of  virtue  that  if 

*  "Lee  of  Virginia."     By  Edmund  I.  Lee. 


EARLY  LIFE  7 

we  would  liken  him  to  other  governors  we  must 
go  back  to  Marcus  Aurelius,  to  St.  Louis  and 
to  William  the  Silent. 

Not  far  from  Stratford,  within  an  easy  ride, 
in  the  same  old  colonial  county  of  Westmore 
land,  on  the  bank  of  the  same  noble  river  whose 
broad  waters  reflect  the  arching  sky,  there 
spanning  Virginia  and  Maryland,  was  Wake- 
field,  the  plantation  which  had  the  distinction 
of  having  given  birth  to  the  Father  of  His 
Country.  Thus,  on  this  neighborhood,  the 
splendor  of  the  evening  of  his  noble  life  just 
closed  had  shed  a  peculiar  glory.  And  not  a  great 
way  off,  in  a  neighboring  county  on  the  banks  of 
the  same  river,  was  the  home  of  his  manhood, 
where  in  majestic  simplicity  his  ashes  repose, 
making  Mt.  Vernon  a  shrine  for  lovers  of  Lib 
erty  of  every  age  and  every  clime. 

On  the  wall  at  Shirley,  Lee's  mother's  home, 
among  the  portraits  of  the  Carters  hangs  a  full- 
length  portrait  of  Washington  in  a  general's 
uniform,  given  by  him  to  General  Nelson  who 
gave  it  to  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Carter.  Thus,  in 
both  his  ancestral  homes  the  boy  from  his 
cradle  found  an  atmosphere  redolent  at  once 
of  the  greatness  of  Virginia's  past  and  of  the 
memory  of  the  preserver  of  his  country. 

It  was  Lee's  own  father,  the  gallant  and  gifted 


8  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

"Light  Horse  Harry"  Lee,  who,  as  eloquent  in 
debate  as  he  had  been  eager  in  battle,  had 
been  selected  by  Congress  to  deliver  the  me 
morial  address  on  Washington,  and  had  coined 
the  golden  phrase  which,  reaching  the  heart  of 
America,  has  become  his  epitaph  and  declared 
him  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  a  grateful  people, 
"First  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the 
hearts  of  his  countrymen." 

How  passionately  the  memory  of  "Light 
Horse  Harry"  Lee  was  revered  by  his  sons  we 
know,  not  only  from  the  life  of  Robert  E.  Lee, 
himself;  but  from  that  most  caustic  of  American 
philippics:  the  "Observations  on  the  Writings 
of  Thomas  Jefferson,  with  Particular  Reference 
to  the  Attacks  they  contain  on  the  Memory  of  the 
Late  General  Henry  Lee,  in  a  Series  of  Letters 
by  Henry  Lee  of  Virginia." 

Mr.  Jefferson  with  all  his  prestige  and  genius 
had  found  a  match  when  he  aroused  "Black 
Harry"  Lee  by  a  charge  of  ingratitude  on  the 
part  of  his  father  to  the  adored  Washington. 
In  no  family  throughout  Virginia  was  Washing 
ton's  name  more  revered  than  among  the  Lees, 
who  were  bound  to  him  by  every  tie  of  gratitude, 
of  sentiment,  and  of  devotion. 

Thus,  the  impress  of  the  character  of  Wash 
ington  was  natural  on  the  plastic  and  serious 


EARLY  LIFE  9 

mind  of  the  thoughtful  son  of  "Light  Horse 
Harry." 

One  familiar  with  the  life  of  Lee  cannot  help 
noting  the  strong  resemblance  of  his  character 
in  its  strength,  its  poise,  its  rounded  complete 
ness,  to  that  of  Washington,  or  fail  to  mark 
what  influence  the  life  of  Washington  had  on 
the  life  of  Lee.  The  stamp  appears  upon  it 
from  his  boyhood  and  grows  more  plain  as 
his  years  progress. 

Just  when  the  youth  definitely  set  before  him 
self  the  character  of  Washington  we  may  not 
know;  but  it  must  have  been  at  an  early  date. 
The  famous  story  of  the  sturdy  little  lad  and 
the  cherry  tree  must  have  been  well  known  to 
young  Lee  from  his  earliest  boyhood,  for  it  was 
floating  about  that  region  when  Parson  Weems 
came  across  it  as  a  neighborhood  tradition,  and 
made  it  a  part  of  our  literature.*  It  has  be 
come  the  fashion  to  deride  such  anecdotes;  but 
this  much,  at  least,  may  be  said  of  this  story,  that 
however  it  may  rest  solely  on  the  authority  of 
the  simple  itinerant  preacher,  it  is  absolutely 
characteristic  of  Washington,  and  it  is  equally 

*  A  Japanese  officer,  a  military  attache  at  Washington,  related 
to  the  writer  that  when  he  was  a  boy  in  a  hill-town  of  Japan  where 
his  father  was  an  officer  of  one  of  the  old  Samurai,  his  mother  told 
him  the  story  of  George  Washington  and  the  cherry  tree  and  tried 
to  impress  on  him  the  lessons  of  truth. 


io  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

characteristic  of  him  who  since  his  time  most 
nearly  resembled  him. 

However  this  was,  the  lad  grew  up  amid  the 
traditions  of  that  greatest  of  great  men,  whose 
life  he  so  manifestly  takes  as  his  model,  and  with 
whose  fame  his  own  fame  was  to  be  so  closely 
allied  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  people  of 
the  South. 

Like  Washington,  Robert  E.  Lee  became  an 
orphan  at  an  early  age,  his  father  dying  when  the 
lad  was  only  eleven  years  old,  and,  like  Washing 
ton,  he  was  brought  up  by  a  devoted  mother,  the 
gentle  and  pious  Anne  Carter  of  Shirley,  a  rep 
resentative,  as  already  stated,  of  one  of  the  old 
families  of  Tidewater  Virginia  and  a  descend 
ant  of  Robert  Carter,  known  as  "  King  Car 
ter,"  equally  because  of  his  great  possessions, 
his  dominant  character,  and  his  high  position 
in  the  Colony.  Through  his  mother,  as  through 
his  father,  Lee  was  related  to  most  of  the  fami 
lies  of  distinction  in  the  Old  Dominion,  and, 
by  at  least  one  strain  of  blood,  to  Washington 
himself.  To  his  mother  he  was  ever  a  dutiful 
and  devoted  son  and  we  have  a  glimpse  of  him, 
none  the  less  interesting  and  significant  because 
it  is  casual,  leaving  his  playfellows  to  go  and 
take  his  invalid  mother  driving  in  the  old  fam 
ily  carriage,  where  he  was  careful  to  fasten  the 


EARLY  LIFE  11 

curtains  and  close  up  the  cracks  with  news 
papers  to  keep  the  draughts  from  her. 

Early  in  his  life  his  father  and  mother  moved 
from  Stratford  to  Alexandria,  one  of  the  two  or 
three  Virginia  towns  that  were  homes  of  the 
gentry,  and  his  boyhood  was  passed  in  the  old 
town  that  was  redolent  of  the  memory  of  Wash 
ington.  He  worshipped  in  the  same  church  in 
which  Washington  had  been  a  pew-holder,  and 
was  a  frequent  visitor  both  at  the  noble  mansion 
where  the  Father  of  his  Country  had  made  his 
home  and  at  that  where  lived  the  Custises,  the 
descendants  and  representatives  of  his  adopted 
son. 

Sprung  from  such  stock  and  nurtured  on  such 
traditions,  the  lad  soon  gave  evidence  of  the  char 
acter  that  was  to  place  him  next  to  his  model. 
"He  was  always  a  good  boy,"  said  his  father. 
"You  have  been  both  son  and  daughter  to  me," 
wrote  .his  mother,  in  her  loneliness,  after  he  had 
left  home  for  West  Point.  "  The  other  boys 
used  to  drink  from  the  glasses  of  the  gentlemen," 
said  one  of  the  family;  "but  Robert  never 
would  join  them.  He  was  different." 

A  light  is  thrown  on  his  character  at  this  time 
in  a  pleasant  reference  to  his  boyhood  made 
by  himself  long  afterwards  in  writing  of  his 
youngest  son,  then  a  lad.  "A  young  gentle- 


12  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

man,"  he  says,  "who  has  read  Virgil  must  surely 
be  competent  to  take  care  of  two  ladies;  for 
before  I  had  advanced  that  far  I  was  my 
mother's  outdoor  agent  and  confidential  mes 
senger."* 

*  Letter  of  June  25,  1857. 


CHAPTER  II 

FIRST  SERVICE 

V7X)UNG  LEE  selected  at  an  early  age  the 
military  profession,  which  had  given  his 
father  and  his  great  prototype  their  fame.  It 
was  the  profession  to  which  all  young  men  of 
spirit  turned.  It  was  in  the  blood.  And  young 
Lee  was  the  son  of  him  of  whom  General  Greene 
had  said  that  "he  became  a  soldier  from  his 
mother's  womb/'  a  bit  of  characterization 
which  this  soldier's  distinguished  son  was  to 
quote  with  filial  satisfaction  when,  after  he 
himself  had  become  possibly  the  most  famous 
soldier  of  his  time,  he  wrote  his  father's  biog 
raphy.  At  the  proper  time,  1825,  when  he  was 
eighteen  years  of  age,  he  was  entered  as  a  cadet 
among  Virginia's  representatives  at  the  military 
academy  of  the  country,  having  received  his 
appointment  from  Andrew  Jackson,  to  whom 
he  applied  in  person.  And  there  is  a  tradition 
that  the  hero  of  New  Orleans  was  much  im 
pressed  at  the  interview  between  them  with  the 
frank  and  sturdy  youth  who  applied  for  the 

13 


H  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

appointment.  At  the  academy,  as  in  the  case 
of  young  Bonaparte,  those  soldierly  qualities 
which  were  to  bring  him  later  so  great  a  meas 
ure  of  fame  were  apparent  from  the  first;  and 
he  bore  off  the  highest  honor  that  a  cadet  can 
secure:  the  coveted  cadet-adjutancy  of  the 
corps.  Here,  too,  he  gave  evidence  of  the  char 
acter  that  was  to  prove  his  most  distinguished 
attribute,  and  he  graduated  second  in  his  class 
of  forty-six;  but  with  the  extraordinary  dis 
tinction  of  not  having  received  a  demerit.  Thus 
early  his  solid  character  manifested  itself. 
"Even  at  West  Point,"  says  Holcombe,  "the 
solid  and  lofty  qualities  of  the  young  cadet  were 
remarked  on  as  bearing  a  resemblance  to  those 
of  Washington." 

The  impress  of  his  character  was  already  be 
coming  stamped  upon  his  countenance.  One 
who  knew  him  about  this  time,  records  that  as 
she  observed  his  face  in  repose  while  he  read  to 
the  assembled  family  circle  or  sat  in  church,  the 
reflection  crossed  her  mind  that  he  looked  more 
like  a  great  man  than  any  one  she  had  ever  seen. 

Among  his  classmates  and  fellow  students  at 
West  Point  were  many  of  those  men  whom  he 
was  afterwards  to  serve  with  or  against  in  the 
great  Civil  War,  and  doubtless  a  part  of  his 
extraordinary  success  in  that  Homeric  contest 


'  FIRST  SERVICE  15 

was  due  to  the  accurate  gauge  which  he  formed 
in  his  youth  or  a  little  later  in  Mexico  of  their 
abilities  and  character.  Indeed,  as  may  be 
shown,  this  was  made  almost  plainly  manifest 
in  his  dealings  in,  at  least,  three  great  campaigns 
of  the  war:  that  in  which  he  confronted  the 
overprudent  McClellan  and  defeated  him,  and 
those  in  which  he  balked  the  vainglorious  Pope 
and  Hooker. 

Here  is  a  picture  of  him  at  this  time,  from  the 
pen  of  one  who  knew  and  loved  him  all  his  life  and 
had  cause  to  know  and  love  him  as  a  true  friend 
and  faithful  comrade :  his  old  class  mate  and  com 
rade  in  arms,  Joseph  E.  Johnston.  They  had,  as 
he  states,  entered  the  Military  Academy  together 
as  classmates  and  formed  there  a  friendship  never 
impaired,  a  friendship  that  was  hereditary,  as 
Johnston's  father  had  served  under  Lee's  father  in 
the  celebrated  Lee  Legion  during  the  Revolutionary 
War. 

"We  had,"  says  General  Johnston,  "the 
same  intimate  associates,  who  thought  as  I  did, 
that  no  other  youth  or  man  so  united  the  quali 
ties  that  win  warm  friendship  and  command 
high  respect.  For  he  was  full  of  sympathy  and 
kindness,  genial  and  fond  of  gay  conversation, 
and  even  of  fun,  while  his  correctness  of  de 
meanor  and  attention  to  all  duties,  personal 


16  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

and  official,  and  a  dignity  as  much  a  part  of 
himself  as  the  elegance  of  his  person,  gave  him 
a  superiority  that  every  one  acknowledged  in 
his  heart.  He  was  the  only  one  of  all  the  men 
I  have  known  that  could  laugh  at  the  faults  and 
follies  of  his  friends  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
make  them  ashamed  without  touching  their 
affection  for  him,  and  to  confirm  their  respect 
and  sense  of  his  superiority."  He  mentions  as 
an  instance  of  the  depth  of  his  sympathy  an 
occurrence  which  took  place  the  morning  after 
a  battle  in  Mexico  in  which  he  had  lost  a  cher 
ished  young  relative.  Lee,  meeting  him  and 
seeing  the  grief  in  his  face,  burst  into  tears  and 
soothed  him  with  a  sympathy  as  tender,  declared 
the  veteran  long  years  after,  "  as  his  lovely  wife 
would  have  done." 

Small  wonder  that  the  soldiers  who  followed 
Lee  faced  death  with  a  devotion  that  was  well- 
nigh  without  a  parallel. 

Still  influenced  in  part,  perhaps,  by  his  worship 
for  his  great  hero,  the  young  officer  chose  as  the 
partner  of  his  life,  his  old  playmate,  Miss  Mary 
Parke  Custis,  the  granddaughter  of  Washing 
ton's  step-son,  the  surviving  representative  of 
Washington.  Mrs.  Lee  was  the  daughter  and 
heiress  of  George  W.  Parke  Custis,  while  Lieu 
tenant  Lee  was  poor;  but  such  was  her  pride  in 


FIRST  SERVICE  17 

her  husband  and  her  sense  of  what  was  his  due 
that  on  her  marriage  to  him  she  determined  to 
live  on  her  husband's  income  as  a  lieutenant, 
and  for  some  time  she  thus  lived.*  It  was  a 
fitting  training  for  the  hardships  she  was  called 
on  to  face  when  her  husband  as  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  the  Confederate  Armies,  deemed  him 
self  happy  to  be  able  to  send  her  one  nearly  dried 
up  lemon.  Their  domestic  life  was  one  of  ideal 
devotion  and  happiness.  Should  we  seek  through 
all  the  annals  of  time  for  an  illustration  of  the 
best  that  exists  in  family  life,  we  need  not  go 
further  to  find  the  perfection  and  refinement  of 
elegance  and  of  purity,  than  that  stately  man 
sion,  the  home  of  Lee,  which  from  the  wooded 
heights  of  Arlington  looks  down  upon  the  city  of 
Washington;  and  has  by  a  strange  fate,  become 
the  last  resting-place  of  many  of  those  whose 
chief  renown  has  been  that  they  fought  bravely 
against  Lee. 

With  the  distinction  of  such  a  high  gradu 
ation  as  his,  young  Lee  was,  of  course,  assigned 
to  the  Engineers,  that  corps  of  intellectual  aris 
tocracy  from  which  came,  with  the  notable 
exceptions  of  Grant  and  Jackson,  nearly  all  the 
officers  who  attained  high  rank  during  the  war. 

*  This  fact  was  stated  to  the   writer  by  the   wife  of  General 
Wm.  N.  Pendleton,  Mrs.  Lee's  close  neighbor  and  friend. 


i8  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

His  first  service  was  in  Virginia,  and  he  was 
stationed  at  Fortress  Monroe  when  occurred  in 
a  neighboring  county  the  bloody  negro-uprising 
known  as  the  "Nat  Turner  Rebellion,"  which 
thrilled  Virginia  as  thirty  years  later  thrilled 
her  the  yet  more  perilous  "John  Brown  Raid" 
which  Lee  was  sent  to  quell,  and  quelled.  Lee's 
letters  to  his  wife  touching  this  episode,  while 
self-contained  as  was  his  wont,  show  the  deep 
gravity  with  which  he  regarded  this  bloody 
outbreak. 

His  early  manhood  was  devoted  to  his  pro 
fession,  wherein  he  made,  while  still  a  young 
man,  a  reputation  for  ability  of  so  high  an  order, 
and  for  such  devotion  to  duty,  that  when  the 
Mississippi,  owing  to  a  gradual  change  in  its 
banks,  threatened  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  General 
Scott,  having  been  appealed  to  to  lend  his  aid 
to  prevent  so  dire  a  calamity,  said  he  knew  of 
but  one  man  who  was  equal  to  the  task,  Brevet 
Captain  Lee.  "He  is  young,"  he  wrote,  "but 
if  the  work  can  be  done,  he  can  do  it."  The 
city  government,  it  is  said,  impatient  at  the  young 
engineer's  methodical  way,  withdrew  the  appro 
priation  for  the  work;  but  he  went  on  quietly, 
with  the  comment,  "They  can  do  as  they  like 
with  their  own,  but  I  was  sent  here  to  do  certain 
work  and  I  shall  do  it."  And  he  did  it.  Feel- 


FIRST  SERVICE  19 

ing  in  the  city  ran  high,  riots  broke  out, 
and  it  is  said  that  cannon  were  placed  in  po 
sition  to  fire  on  his  working  force;  but  he  kept 
calmly  on  to  the  end.  The  work  he  wrought 
there  stands  to-day — the  bulwark  of  the  great 
city  which  has  so  recently  invited  America  and 
the  nations  of  the  world  within  her  gates. 

The  Mexican  War  was  the  training-ground  of 
most  of  those  who  fought  with  distinction  in 
the  later  and  more  terrible  strife  of  the  Civil 
War,  and  many  of  the  greatest  campaigns  and 
fiercest  battles  of  that  war  were  planned  and 
fought  with  a  science  learned  upon  the  pampas 
and  amid  the  mountains  of  Mexico.  During  the 
Mexican  War,  Lee,  starting  in  as  an  engineer 
officer  on  the  staff  of  General  Wool,  achieved 
more  renown  than  any  other  soldier  of  his  rank, 
and  possibly  more  than  any  other  officer  in  the 
army  of  invasion,  except  the  commander-in-chief. 

The  scope  of  this  volume  will  not  admit  of 
going  into  the  details  of  his  distinguished  services 
there  which  kept  him  ever  at  the  crucial  point  and 
which  led  General  Scott  to  declare  long  after 
wards  that  he  was  the  "very  best  soldier  he  ever 
saw  in  the  field."  His  scouts  and  reconnaissances 
at  Cerro  Gordo,  Contreras,  Churubusco,  and 
Chapultepec,  brought  him  the  brevets  of  Major 
at  Cerro  Gordo,  April  18,  1874,  of  Lieutenant- 


20  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

Colonel  at  Contreras  and  Churubusco,  and 
of  Colonel  at  Chapultepec,  September  I3th. 
His  first  marked  distinction  was  won  by  a 
reconnaissance  made  at  night  with  a  single  guide, 
whom  he  compelled  to  serve  at  the  muzzle  of 
the  pistol,  wherein  he  ascertained  the  falsity  of 
a  report  that  Santa  Anna's  army  had  crossed 
the  mountains  and  lay  in  their  front.  This  dis 
tinction  he  greatly  increased  by  work  at  Vera 
Cruz,  by  which  that  strategic  point,  protected, 
as  was  believed,  by  impregnable  defences,  was 
captured.  But  this,  as  notable  as  it  was,  was 
as  far  excelled  by  his  services  at  Cerro  Gordo  as 
that  was  in  turn  by  his  work  at  Contreras.  At 
Cerro  Gordo,  where  Santa  Anna  with  13,000 
troops  and  forty-two  guns  posted  in  a  pass 
barred  the  way  in  an  apparently  impregnable 
position,  Lee  discovered  a  mountain  pass,  and 
having  in  person  led  Twigg's  division  to  the 
point  for  assault  in  front,  and  having  worked 
all  night  posting  batteries,  at  dawn  next  morn 
ing  led  Riley's  brigade  up  the  mountains  in  the 
turning  movement  which  forced  Santa  Anna 
from  his  stronghold.  At  Contreras  again,  he 
showed  the  divinely  given  endowments  on  which 
his  future  fame  was  to  rest. 

At    Contreras   the   army  of   invasion    found 
itself  in  danger  of  being  balked  almost  at  the 


FIRST  SERVICE  21 

Gates  of  the  Capital,  and  Lee's  ability  shone 
forth  even  more  brilliantly  than  at  Cerro  Gordo. 
The  defences  of  the  City  of  Mexico  on  the  east 
ward  appeared  impregnable,  while  an  attack 
from  the  south,  where  the  approach  was  natu 
rally  less  difficult,  was  rendered  apparently 
almost  as  unassailable  by  powerful  batteries 
constructed  at  San  Antonio  Hill  commanding 
the  only  avenue  of  approach,  the  road  which 
wound  between  Lake  Chalco  with  its  deep  mo 
rass  on  one  side,  and  impassable  lava  beds  on 
the  other.  Lee  by  careful  reconnaissance  dis 
covered  a  mule-trail  over  the  Pedregal,  as  this 
wild  and  broken  tract  of  petrified  lava  was 
termed,  and  this  trail  having  been  opened  suf 
ficiently  to  admit  of  the  passage  of  troops,  though 
with  difficulty  and  danger,  he  conducted  over 
it  the  commands  of  Generals  Pillow  and  Worth, 
and  the  village  of  Contreras  was  seized  and  held 
till  night  against  all  assaults  of  the  enemy.  The 
position  of  the  American  troops,  however,  was 
one  of  extreme  peril,  as  it  was  known  that  heavy 
reinforcements  were  being  rushed  forward  by 
the  Mexicans,  and  at  a  council  of  war  it  was  de 
cided  to  advance  before  dawn  rather  than  await 
attack  from  the  Mexican  forces.  It  became 
necessary  to  inform  General  Scott  of  the  situa 
tion  and  Captain  Lee  volunteered  for  the  per- 


22  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

ilous  service.  He  accordingly  set  out  in  the 
darkness  and  alone,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  furi 
ous  tropical  storm,  he  made  his  way  back 
across  the  lava  beds  infested  by  bands  of  Mexi 
cans,  advised  the  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
proposed  movement,  and  having  secured  his 
co-operation,  returned  across  the  Pedregal  in 
time  to  assist  in  the  assault  which  forced  the 
Mexicans  to  abandon  their  position,  and  opened 
the  way  to  Churubusco,  Molino  del  Rey  and 
Chapultepec,  and,  finally,  led  to  the  occupation 
of  the  capital  and  the  close  of  the  War. 

This  was,  declared  Scott,  "The  greatest  feat 
of  physical  and  moral  courage  performed  by 
any  individual,  to  my  knowledge,  pending  the 
campaign." 

The  "gallantry  and  good  conduct,"  the  "in 
valuable  services,"  "the  intrepid  coolness  and 
gallantry  of  Captain  Lee  of  the  Engineers,"  of 
"Captain  Lee,  so  constantly  distinguished,"  fill 
all  the  dispatches  of  all  the  battles  of  the  war, 
and  Lee  came  out  of  this  war  with  such  a  rep 
utation  for  ability  that  his  old  commander, 
Scott,  declared  to  General  Preston,  that  he  was 
"the  greatest  living  soldier  in  America."  In 
deed,  Scott,  with  prescient  vision,  declared  his 
opinion  that  he  was  "the  greatest  soldier  now 
living  in  the  world."  "If  I  were  on  my  death- 


V 


• 

FIRST  SERVICE 


23 

bed  to-morrow,"  he  said  to  General  Preston, 
long  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  "and 
the  President  of  the  United  States  should  tell  me 
that  a  great  battle  were  to  be  fought  for  the 
liberty  or  slavery  of  the  country,  and  asked  my 
judgment  as  to  the  ability  of  a  commander,  I 
would  say  with  my  dying  breath,  'Let  it  be 
Robert  E.  Lee/" 

Lee,  himself,  however,  declared  that  it  was 
General  Scott's  stout  heart  and  military  skill 
which  overcame  all  obstacles  and  while  others 
croaked  pushed  the  campaign  through  to  final 
success. 

During  the  period  following  the  Mexican 
War,  Lee  was  engaged  for  a  time  in  constructing 
the  defences  of  Baltimore.  Then  he  was,  in 
1852,  assigned  to  duty  as  Superintendent  of  the 
United  States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point, 
and  three  years  later  was  assigned  to  active  duty 
on  the  southwestern  frontier  as  Lieutenant 
Colonel  of  one  of  the  two  regiments  of  cavalry 
which  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  then  Secretary  of 
War,  had  organized  on  the  recommendation 
of  General  Scott  and  made  a  separate  branch 
of  the  service.*  He  soon  rose  to  the  rank  of 

*  Of  these  regiments  E.  V.  Sumner  was  Colonel  of  the  first  and 
Joseph  E.  Johnston  was  Lieutenant-Colonel,  and  Albert  Sydney 
Johnston  Was  Colonel  of  the  second,  with  Lee  as  his  Lieutenant- 
Colonel. 


24  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

colonel  of  cavalry,  a  position  which  a  great  critic 
of  war  has  asserted  to  be  the  best  of  all  training 
schools  for  a  great  captain,  and  he  held  this  rank 
when,  having  been  brought  to  Washington  to 
revise  the  tactics  of  the  army,  he  was  unexpect 
edly  called  on  in  the  summer  of  1859  to  take 
charge  of  the  force  of  marines  sent  to  Harper's 
Ferry  to  capture  John  Brown  and  his  followers 
in  their  crazy  and  murderous  invasion  of  Vir 
ginia,  with  the  design  of  starting  a  servile  war 
which  should  lead  to  the  negroes  achieving  their 
emancipation.  This  duty  he  performed  prompt 
ly  and  efficiently. 

Long  afterwards  when  he  was  a  defeated 
general  on  parole,  without  means,  his  every  act 
and  word  watched  by  enemies  thirsting  for  his 
blood,  one  of  the  men  he  had  commanded  in 
the  ad  Cavalry,  but  who  had  fought  in  the  Un 
ion  army  throughout  the  war,  called  at  his  house 
in  .Richmond  with  a  basket  of  provisions  for  his 
old  commander,  and  when  he  saw  him  seized 
him  in  his  arms  and  kissed  him. 

A  light  is  thrown  on  his  character  in  the  letters 
he  wrote  about  and  to  his  children  during  his  long 
absences  from  home  on  duty  in  the  West  and  in 
Mexico.  And  it  is  one  of  the  pathetic  elements  in 
the  history  of  this  loving  and  tender  father,  that 
with  a  nature  which  would  have  reveled  in  the 


FIRST  SERVICE  25 

joys  of  domestic  life,  he  should  have  been  called 
by  duty  to  spend  so  large  a  part  of  his  time  away 
from  home  that  he  did  not  even  know  his  young 
est  son  when  he  met  him.  He  was  ever  devoted 
to  children,  and  amid  the  most  tragic  scenes  of  his 
eventful  life,  his  love  for  them  speaks  from  his 
letters.  Writing  to  his  wife  from  St.  Louis  in 
1837,  when  he  was  engaged  in  engineering  work 
for  the  government,  he  speaks  with  deep  feeling 
of  the  sadness  he  felt  at  being  separated  from  his 
family,  and  of  his  anxiety  about  the  training  of 
his  little  son.  "Our  dear  little  boy,"  he  says, 
"seems  to  have  among  his  friends  the  reputa 
tion  of  being  hard  to  manage — a  distinction  not 
at  all  desirable,  as  it  indicates  self-will  and  ob 
stinacy.  Perhaps,  these  are  qualities  which  he 
really  possesses,  and  he  may  have  a  better  right 
to  them  than  I  am  willing  to  acknowledge;  but 
it  is  our  duty,  if  possible,  to  counteract  them, 
and  assist  him  to  bring  them  under  his  control. 
I  have  endeavored,  in  my  intercourse  with  him, 
to  require  nothing  but  what  was,  in  my  opinion, 
necessary  or  proper,  and  to  explain  to  him  tem 
perately  its  propriety,  and  at  a  time  when  he 
could  listen  to  my  arguments  and  not  at  the 
moment  of  his  being  vexed  and  his  little  faculties 
warped  by  passion.  I  have  also  tried  to  show 
him  that  I  was  firm  in  my  demands  and  con- 


26  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

stant  in  their  enforcement  and  that  he  must 
comply  with  them,  and  I  let  him  see  that  I  look 
to  their  execution  in  order  to  relieve  him  as 
much  as  possible  from  the  temptation  to  break 
them." 

Wise  words  from  a  father,  and  the  significant 
thing  was  that  they  represented  his  conduct 
throughout  his  life.  He  was  the  personification  of 
reasonableness.  Small  wonder  that  his  youngest 
son,  in  his  memoir  of  his  father,  recorded  that 
among  his  first  impressions  was  the  recognition  of 
a  difference  between  his  father  and  other  persons, 
and  a  knowledge  that  he  had  to  be  obeyed.  A 
touch  in  one  of  his  letters  to  an  old  friend  and 
classmate,  then  Lieutenant,  afterwards  Lieutenant 
General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  gives  a  glimpse  of 
his  love  for  children,  and  also  of  that  of  another 
old  friend:  "He  complains  bitterly  of  his 
present  waste  of  life,  looks  thin  and  dispirited 
and  is  acquainted  with  the  cry  of  every  child  in 
Iowa." 

His  son  and  namesake  in  his  "Recollections" 
of  his  father  makes  mention  of  many  little  in 
stances  of  his  love  of  and  care  for  animals,  and 
the  same  love  of  and  care  for  animals  constantly 
shines  from  his  letters. 

At  one  time  he  picked  up  a  dog  lost  and 
swimming  wildly  in  "the  Narrows"  and  cared 


FIRST  SERVICE  27 

for  it  through  life;  at  another  he  takes  a  long, 
roundabout  journey  by  steamer  for  the  sake  of 
his  horse;  at  another  he  writes,  "Cannot  you 
cure  poor  'Spec'  ?SJ  (his  dog).  "Cheer  him  up! 
take  him  to  walk  with  you — tell  the  children  to 
cheer  him  up."  In  fact,  his  love  for  animals, 
like  his  love  for  children,  was  a  marked  char 
acteristic  throughout  his  life,  and  long  after  the 
war  he  took  the  trouble  to  write  a  description  of 
his  horse  "Traveller,"  which  none  but  a  true 
lover  of  horses  could  have  written. 

On  his  return  from  Mexico,  after  an  absence 
so  long  that  he  failed  to  recognize  his  own  child 
whom  he  had  left  a  babe  in  arms,  he  was,  like 
Ulysses,  first  recognized  by  his  faithful  dog.* 

His  two  elder  sons  had  both  entered  the  mili 
tary  profession,  which  their  father  held  in  the 
highest  honor,  and  the  letters  he  wrote  them 
illustrated  not  only  the  charming  relation  that 
existed  between  father  and  sons,  but  the  lofty 
ideal  on  which  he  ever  modeled  his  own  life  and 
desired  that  they  should  model  theirs.  To  his 
oldest  son,  then  a  cadet  at  West  Point,  he  writes 
from  Arlington  (April  5,  1852),  as  he  was  on 
the  point  of  leaving  for  New  Mexico  to  see  that 
his  "fine  old  regiment"  which  had  been  "or 
dered  to  that  distant  region"  was  "properly 

*  "  Recollections  and  Letters  of  General  Lee.        By  R.  E.  Lee. 


28  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

cared  for":  .  .  .  "Your  letters  breathe  a  true 
spirit  of  frankness;  they  have  given  myself  and 
your  mother  great  pleasure.  You  must  study 
to  be  frank  with  the  world.  Frankness  is  the 
child  of  honesty  and  courage.  .  .  .  Never  do 
a  wrong  thing  to  make  a  friend  or  to  keep  one. 
.  .  .  Above  all,  do  not  appear  to  others  what 
you  are  not.  ...  In  regard  to  duty,  let  me  in 
conclusion  of  this  hasty  letter  inform  you  that 
nearly  a  hundred  years  ago  there  was  a  day  of 
remarkable  darkness  and  gloom,  still  known  as 
the  dark  day — a  day  when  the  light  of  the  sun 
was  slowly  extinguished,  as  if  by  an  eclipse. 
The  legislature  of  Connecticut  was  in  session, 
and,  as  its  members  saw  the  unexpected  and  un 
accountable  darkness  coming  on,  they  shared  the 
general  awe  and  terror.  It  was  supposed  by 
many  that  the  last  day — the  day  of  judgment 
had  come.  Some  one  in  consternation  of  the 
hour  moved  an  adjournment.  Then  there  arose 
an  old  Pilgrim  legislator,  Davenport  of  Stam 
ford,  and  said  that  if  the  last  day  had  come  he 
desired  to  be  found  at  his  place  doing  his  duty, 
and  therefore  moved  that  candles  be  brought  in 
so  that  the  House  could  proceed  with  its  duty. 
There  was  quietness  in  that  man's  mind,  the 
quietness  of  heavenly  wisdom  and  inflexible  will 
ingness  to  obey  present  duty.  Duty,  then,  is  the 


FIRST  SERVICE  29 

sublimest  word  in  our  language.  Do  your  duty 
in  all  things,  like  the  old  Puritan.  You  cannot 
do  more;  you  should  never  wish  to  do  less. 
Never  let  me  or  your  mother  wear  one  gray  hair 
for  lack  of  duty  on  your  part/'  * 

*  It  is  said  that  this  letter  as  a  whole  was  made  up  by  a  clever 
newspaper  man  out  of  parts  of  different  letters  by  Lee. 


CHAPTER   III 

THE  CHOICE  OF  HERCULES 

TXT'HEN  the  war  came  Lee  had  to  face  the  most 
momentous  question  that  ever  confronted 
a  soldier.  The  Government  of  the  United  States 
and  his  own  State,  which  was  later  to  form  a  part 
of  a  new  National  Government,  were  about  to 
be  arrayed  in  arms  against  each  other.  The 
former  was  preparing  to  invade  his  native  State 
to  coerce  by  arms  the  seceded  States.  He  had  to 
decide  between  allegiance  to  the  general  Govern 
ment  whose  commission  he  had  borne,  whose 
honors  had  been  conferred  on  him,  and  under 
whose  flag  he  had  won  high  distinction;  and  alle 
giance  to  his  native  State,  which  had  been  a  con 
stituent  part  of  that  government,  and  which  in 
the  exercise  of  its  Constitutional  right,  seceded 
from  the  Union  on  being  invaded. 

The  John  Brown  Raid  with  its  aim,  the  head 
ing  of  a  servile  insurrection  throughout  the 
South,  backed  as  it  was  by  blind  enthusiasts  at 
the  North,  affected  profoundly  all  thinking  men 
at  the  South.  Had  it  proved  successful,  the 

30 


THE  CHOICE  OF  HERCULES          31 

hdrrors  of  San  Domingo  would  have  been  mul 
tiplied  a  thousandfold  and  have  swept  over  the 
South  in  a  deluge  of  blood.  The  South  was 
enraged  by  this  effort  to  arouse  a  slave-insur 
rection;  but  the  wild  sympathy  expressed  at 
the  North  with  its  murderous  leader  gave  it  a 
shock  from  which  it  never  recovered.  Lee  had 
no  illusions  respecting  slavery.  He  saw  its  evils 
with  an  eye  as  clear  as  Wendell  Phillips'.  He 
set  forth  his  views  in  favor  of  emancipation  in 
as  positive  terms  as  Lincoln  ever  employed.  He 
manumitted  all  the  slaves  he  owned  in  his  own 
right  before  the  war,  and  within  a  week  after 
the  emancipation  proclamation  he  manumitted 
all  the  negroes  received  by  him  from  the  Custis 
estate,  having  previous  to  that  time  made  his 
arrangements  to  do  so  in  conformity  with  the 
provisions  of  Mr.  Custis's  will. 

Most  men  of  open  minds  have  long  passed 
the  point  when  we  should  deny  to  any  honorable 
man  the  right  to  make  that  election  as  his  con 
science  dictated.  But  with  most  of  us  sympathy 
and  affection  go  to  the  man  who  chose  the 
weaker  side.  This  choice  Lee  deliberately 
made.  Who  knows  what  agony  that  accom 
plished  soldier  and  noble  gentleman  went 
through  during  those  long  weeks,  when  the 
sword  was  suspended  and  he  with  unblinded 


32  ROBERT  L.   LEE 

vision  foresaw  that  it  must  fall.  To  some  men 
the  decision  might  have  been  made  more  diffi 
cult  by  the  prize  that  was  suddenly  held  out  to 
him.  But  not  so  with  Lee.  The  only  question 
with  him  was  what  was  his  duty. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  tendered 
to  him  the  command  of  the  armies  of  the  Union 
about  to  take  the  field.  This  has  long  been  re 
garded  by  those  who  knov  as  an  established 
fact;  but  it  has  become  the  custom  of  late 
among  a  certain  class  to  deny  the  fact  on  the 
principle,  perhaps,  that  an  untruth  well  stuck  to 
may  possibly  supplant  the  truth.  Of  the  fact  that 
he  was  offered  the  command  of  the  armies  of  the 
United  States  there  is,  however,  abundant  proof 
outside  of  General  Lee's  own  statement  to  Sena 
tor  Reverdy  Johnson,  were  more  proof  needed. 
The  Hon.  Montgomery  Blair  published  the 
fact  as  stated  by  his  father,  the  Hon.  Francis 
P.  Blair,  that  he  had  been  sent  by  Mr.  Lincoln  to 
Colonel  Lee  with  the  offer  of  the  command,  and 
long  afterwards  the  Hon.  Simon  Cameron,  for 
merly  Secretary  of  War  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  cabi 
net,  in  a  published  interview,  frankly  admitted 
the  fact.  "It  is  true,"  he  says,  "that  Gen.  Rob 
ert  E.  Lee  was  tendered  the  command  of  the 
Union  Army.  It  was  the  wish  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
administration  th;  t  as  many  as  possible  of  the 


THE  CHOICE  OF  HERCULES          33 

southern  officers  then  in  the  regular  army  should 
remain  true  to  the  nation  which  had  educated 
them.  Robert  E.  Lee  and  Joseph  E.  Johnston 
were  then  the  leading  southern  soldiers.  .  .  . 
In  the  moves  and  counter  moves  in  the  game  of 
war  and  peace  then  going  on,  Francis  P.  Blair, 
Sr.,  was  a  prominent  figure.  The  tender  of  the 
command  of  the  U.  S.  forces  rvas  made  to  Gen 
eral  Lee  through  ^iim.  Mr.  Blair  came  to  me 
expressing  the  opinion  that  General  Lee  could 
be  held  to  our  cause  by  the  offer  of  the  chief 
command  of  our  forces.  I  authorized  Mr.  Blair 
to  make  the  offer.  .  .  . "  * 

But  the  matter  is  set  at  rest  by  a  letter  from 
General  Lee — his  letter  of  February  25,  1868, 
to  Reverdy  Johnston — in  which  he  states  that 
he  had  a  conversation  with  Mr.  Francis 
Preston  Blair,  at  his  invitation,  and  as  he  un 
derstood  at  the  instance  of  President  Lincoln. 
"After  listening  to  his  remarks,"  he  says,  "I 
declined  the  offer  he  made  me  to  take  com 
mand  of  the  army  that  was  to  be  brought  into 
the  field,  stating  as  candidly  and  as  courteously 
as  I  could  that,  though  opposed  to  Secession 
and  deprecating  War,  I  could  take  no  part  in 
an  invasion  of  the  Southern  States.  I  went  di 
rectly  from  the  interview  with  Mr.  Blair  to  the 

*  New  York  Herald,  cited  Jones's  "  ?;.ee,"  p.  130. 


34  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

office  of  General  Scott,  told  him  of  the  proposi 
tion  that  had  been  made  me  and  my  decision."  * 
Indeed,  it  was  this  offer  which  possibly  hastened 
his  decision. 

Two  days  later,  on  April  2Oth,  he  resigned 
his  commission  in  the  United  States  Army,  de 
claring  that  he  never  wished  to  draw  his  sword 
again  save  in  defence  of  his  native  State.  Even 
then  he  "hoped  that  Peace  might  be  preserved 
and  some  way  found  to  save  the  country  from 
the  calamities  of  War." 

So  much  we  have  from  his  own  lips,  and  that  is 
proof  enough  for  those  who  know  his  character. 

This  action  of  Lee's  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
war,  in  resigning  from  the  Army  of  the  United 
States,  and  later  in  assuming  the  command,  first 
of  the  Virginia  forces,  and  afterwards  of  the 
Confederate  forces,  used,  during  the  period  of 
passion  covered  by  the  war  and  the  bitter  years 
which  followed,  to  be  made  the  basis  of  a  criti 
cism  whose  rancor  bore  an  almost  precise  re 
lation  to  the  degree  of  security  which  had  been 
sought  by  the  assailant  during  the  hour  of  danger. 
The  men  who  fought  the  battles  of  the  Union 
said  little  upon  the  subject.  They  knew  for 
the  most  part  the  feeling  which  animated  the 

*See  also  Jones's  "  Life  and  Letters  of  Robert  Edward  Lee," 
p.  128. 


THE  CHOICE  OF   HERCULES          35 

breasts  which  opposed  them,  and  paid  it  the 
tribute  of  unfeigned  respect.  The  conduct  of 
Grant  and  of  his  officers  at  Appomattox,  with 
a  single  exception,  was  such  as  to  reflect  un 
ending  credit  on  them  as  men  of  honour  and 
generosity.  The  charge  of  treason  was  mainly 
left  to  those  who,  having  risked  nothing  on  the 
field  of  honour,  were  fain  later,  when  all  danger 
was  past,  to  achieve  a  reputation  for  patriotism 
by  the  fury  of  their  cries  for  revenge.  To  these, 
the  vultures  of  the  race,  may  be  added  an 
element,  sincere  and  not  well-informed,  who 
more  than  half  wishing  to  avail  themselves 
of  Lee's  transcendent  character,  have  found  his 
action  in  this  crisis  a  stumbling-block  in  their 
way. '  Having  been  reared  solely  upon  the  doc 
trine  of  Federalism,  and  taught  all  their  lives 
that  the  officers  of  the  Army  of  the  Union  had 
received  their  education  at  West  Point  at  the 
hands  of  the  National  Government  and  were 
guilty  of  something  like  treason,  or,  as  it  used  to 
be  put,  treachery,  in  giving  up  their  commands 
in  the  Union  Army  and  bearing  arms  for  their 
States  against  the  United  States,  they  find  it 
difficult  to  accept  the  plainest  facts.  These  are 
the  bigots  of  Politics. 

As  the  statement  is  wholly  unfounded  and  as 
the  matter  goes  to  the  basis  of  character,  it  is 


36  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

well  to  point  these  latter  to  the  facts  which  dis 
prove  wholly  and  forever  the  premises  on  which 
they  have  based  their  erroneous  conclusion. 

It  is  well  to  remember  at  the  outset  that  in  the 
first  place,  the  action  of  every  man  must  be  con 
sidered  in  relation  to  the  conditions  from  which 
that  action  springs,  and  amid  which  it  had  its 
being.  The  most  fallacious  method  of  consid 
ering  history  is  that  which  excludes  contem 
porary  conditions  and  undertakes  to  judge  it  by 
the  present,  the  two  eras  often  being  far  more 
different  than  would  be  indicated  by  the  mere 
passage  of  time. 

At  the  time  when  these  officers  received  their 
education  at  the  Military  Academy,  they  were 
sent  there  as  State  cadets,  and  the  expense  of 
their  education  was  borne  at  last  by  the  several 
States,  which,  there  being  at  that  time  no  high 
tariff  and  no  internal  revenue  taxation  to  main 
tain  the  National  Government,  made  a  yet  more 
direct  contribution  than  since  the  war  to  the 
Government  for  its  expenses.  In  recognition 
of  this  fact  and  as  compensation  for  the  contri 
bution  by  the  States,  each  Representative  of  a 
State  had  the  right  to  send  a  cadet  to  each 
academy.  Virginia  had  been  peculiarly  instru 
mental  in  creating  the  Union.  She  had  taken 
a  foremost  and  decisive  part  in  the  Revolution 


THE  CHOICE  OF  HERCULES          37 

for  those  rights  on  which  the  Constitution  was 
based  and  subsequently  in  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution.  She  had  led  alike  in  the  field 
and  in  the  Council  Chamber.  Without  her  no 
Union  would  have  been  formed,  and  without 
her  no  Union  would  have  been  preserved  during 
the  early  decades  of  its  existence.  To  make  the 
Union  possible  she  had  ceded  her  vast  north 
west  territory,  first  embraced  in  her  charter, 
and  later  conquered  by  her  sons  led  by  George 
Rogers  Clark. 

There  had  long  been  two  different  schools  of 
governmental  thought  in  the  country,  the  one 
representing  the  Federalist  Party,  and  the  other 
representing  the  Republican  or  Democratic 
Party.  They  had  their  rise  in  the  very  incep 
tion  of  the  National  Government.  Their  teach 
ings  had  divided  the  country  from  that  time  on. 
Originally  the  chief  agitation  against  the  Federal 
Government  had  been  at  the  North,  and  while 
the  parties  were  not  demarked  by  any  sectional 
lines,  for  the  most  part,  the  body  of  the  Federalist 
Party  were  at  the  period  of  the  outbreak  of  war, 
owing  to  certain  conditions  connected  with  the 
institution  of  slavery,  and  to  various  advantages 
accruing  to  the  Northern  States,  as  manufactur 
ing  States,  at  the  North,  while  the  body  of  the 
States'  rights  party  were  at  the  South.  Not  only 


38  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

were  the  powers  of  the  greatest  statesmen  and 
debaters  in  the  country  continually  exercised  up 
on  this  question,  as  for  example,  in  the  great 
debates  in  which  Clay,  Webster,  Hayne,  and 
Calhoun  took  part  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate, 
but  the  teachings  in  the  great  institutions  of 
learning  were  divided.* 

But  Lee  had  from  his  boyhood  been  reared 
in  the  Southern  school  of  States'  Rights  as  in 
terpreted  by  the  conservative  statesmen  of  Vir 
ginia.  His  gallant  and  distinguished  father  had 
been  governor  of  Virginia,  and,  while  heartily 
advocating  in  the  Virginia  Convention  the  rati 
fication  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
favored  the  Virginia  and  Kentucky  Resolutions 
of  1798-99,  drawn  by  Mr.  Madison  and  Mr.  Jef 
ferson,  which  were  based  upon  the  States' 
Rights  doctrine.  He  said  in  debate,  "Virginia 
is  my  country,  her  will  I  obey,  however  lament 
able  the  fate  to  which  it  may  subject  me." 

He  wrote  to  Mr.  Madison  in  January,  1792,  a 
letter  in  which  he  said,  "No  consideration  on 
earth  could  induce  me  to  act  a  part,  however 
gratifying  to  me,  which  could  be  construed  into 
disregard  of,  or  faithlessness  to,  this  Common 
wealth." 

*  A  brief  and  simple  statement  of  the  position  of  the  two  sides 
may  be  found  in  Ropes's  "Story  of  The  Civil  War":  I.  Chap.  i. 


THE  CHOICE  OF  HERCULES          39 

Such  was  the  teaching  under  which  Robert  E. 
Lee  had  been  reared.  One  knows  little  of  Vir 
ginia  who  does  not  know  in  what  passionate 
esteem  the  traditions  and  opinions  of  a  father 
were  cherished  by  a  son.  Political  views  were 
as  much  inherited  as  religious  tenets. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  at  the  time  that  young  Lee 
was  attending  the  Military  Academy  at  West 
Point,  the  text-books,  such  as  "Rawle  on  the 
Constitution,"  which  were  used  there,  taught 
with  great  distinctness  the  absolute  right  of  a 
State  to  secede,  and  the  primary  duty  of  every 
man  to  his  native  State.*  "  It  depends  on  the 
State  itself,"  declares  this  authority  then  taught 
at  West  Point,  "to  retain  or  abolish  the  prin 
ciple  of  representation,  because  it  depends  on 
itself  whether  it  will  continue  a  member  of  the 
Union."  This  position  was  that  held  by  the 
leaders  of  New  England  during  the  first  half  of  the 

*  This  has  been  ably  and  conclusively  shown  by  Mr.  Charles 
Francis  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  in  his  admirable  address  on 
"Constitutional  Ethics,"  and  in  his  memorial  address  on  the  life 
and  character  of  Robert  E.  Lee,  delivered  at  Washington  and  Lee 
University  on  the  occasion  of  the  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  Gen 
eral  Lee's  birth.  His  distinguished  grandfather,  John  Quincy 
Adams,  who  had  been  President  of  the  United  States,  had  enun 
ciated  the  doctrine  of  Secession  clearly,  declaring  that  it  would 
be  better  for  the  States  to  "  part  in  friendship  from  each  other 
than  to  be  held  together  by  constraint "  and  "  to  form  again  a 
more  perfect  Union  by  dissolving  that  which  could  not  bind." 
— Speech  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  April  30,  1839. 


40  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

century,  and  was  earnestly  advanced  both  at  the 
time  of  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana  and  of  Texas. 

The  action  of  the  Hartford  Convention  in 
threatening  secession  had  blazoned  abroad  the 
views  of  the  leaders  of  New  England  thought 
at  the  time  when  the  Virginians  were  straining 
every  force  to  maintain  the  Union;  and  John 
Quincy  Adams  had  presented  to  Congress  (Jan 
uary  23,  1842)  a  petition  from  a  Massachusetts 
town  (Haverhill),  asking  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union,  on  which  a  motion  had  been  made  by  a 
Virginia  member  (Mr.  Gilmer),  to  censure  him, 
which  had  been  debated  for  ten  days,  Mr. 
Adams  ably  defending  himself. 

Indeed,  whatever  question  existed  as  to  the 
right  of  a  State  to  secede,  there  was  no  ques 
tion  whatever  as  to  her  citizens  being  bound 
by  her  action  should  she  secede.  The  basic 
principle  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Civilization  was 
the  defence  of  the  inner  circle  against  whatever 
assailed  it  from  the  outside,  and  nowhere  was 
this  principle  more  absolutely  established  than 
in  Virginia. 

In  a  thoughtful  discussion  of  the  action  of  Vir 
ginia  at  this  time,  Colonel  G.  F.  R.  Henderson, 
the  noted  biographer  of  Stonewall  Jackson,  says, 
"There  can  be  no  question  but  that  secession 
was  Revolution,  and  Revolutions,  as  has  been 


THE  CHOICE  OF  HERCULES          41 

well  said,  are  not  made  for  the  sake  of 'greased 
cartridges.'  .  .  .  Secession,  in  fact,  was  a  pro 
test  against  mob  rule.  ...  It  is  always  difficult 
to  analyse  the  motives  of  those  by  whom  revo 
lution  is  provoked;  but  if  a  whole  people  acqui 
esce,  it  is  a  certain  proof  of  the  existence  of 
universal  apprehension  and  deep-rooted  discon 
tent.  This  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  which  ani 
mated  the  Confederate  South  has  been  char 
acteristic  of  every  revolution  which  has  been 
the  expression  of  a  nation's  wrongs,  but  it  has 
never  yet  accompanied  mere  factious  insurrec 
tion.  When,  in  the  process  of  time,  the  history 
of  secession  comes  to  be  viewed  with  the  same 
freedom  from  prejudice  as  the  history  of  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  it  will  be 
clear  that  the  fourth  great  revolution  of  the 
English  speaking  race  differs  in  no  essential 
characteristic  from  those  that  preceded  it.  ... 
In  each  a  great  principle  was  at  stake:  in  1642 
the  liberty  of  the  subject;  in  1688,  the  integrity 
of  the  Protestant  faith;  in  1775,  taxation  only 
with  consent  of  the  taxed;  in  1861,  the  sov 
ereignty  of  the  individual  states."  * 

*  Henderson's  "Stonewall  Jackson."  New  Impression.  I. 
PP-  93-4- 

I  have  quoted  extensively  in  this  volume  from  this  author, 
feeling  that  he,  as  an  impartial  student  of  the  Civil  War  and  its 
causes,  is  an  authority  to  command  respect. 


42  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

Whether,  then,  those  who  were  in  the  service 
of  the  United  States  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war 
were  under  obligation  to  remain  in  her  service 
after  the  States  seceded,  or  were  under  obliga 
tion  to  resign  and  espouse  the  side  of  their  sev 
eral  States,  was  a  matter  for  each  man  to  decide 
according  to  his  conscience,  and  scores  of  gal 
lant  and  high-minded  gentlemen  thus  decided. 
Of  the  three  hundred  and  odd  graduates  of 
West  Point  who  were  from  the  South,  at  least 
nine-tenths  followed  their  States,  and  these, 
men  whose  character  would  challenge  com 
parison  with  the  loftiest  examples  of  the  human 
race.  That  there  was  an  obligation  on  them  to 
remain,  because  of  the  source  from  which  their 
education  came,  is  sheer  nonsense.  This  edu 
cation  was  but  a  simple  return  for  the  money 
contributed  by  their  States  to  the  General  Gov 
ernment.  And  Virginia  had  paid  for  all  she 
got,  a  hundred  times  over. 

When  the  great  conflict  came,  the  time  which 
tried  men's  souls,  no  soul  in  all  the  limits  of  this 
broad  country  was  more  tried  than  that  lofty 
soul  which  had  for  its  home  the  breast  of  Robert 
E.  Lee.  A  glimpse  of  his  love  for  and  pride  in 
his  country  may  be  found  in  a  letter  written 
during  his  stay  in  Texas  in  1856.  Writing  to  his 
wife  of  the  Fourth  of  July,  he  says,  "Mine  was 


THE  CHOICE  OF  HERCULES          43 

spent  after  a  march  of  thirty  miles,  on  one  of 
the  branches  of  the  Brazos,  under  my  blanket, 
elevated  on  four  sticks  driven  in  the  ground,  as 
a  sunshade.  The  sun  was  fiery  hot,  the  atmos 
phere  like  a  blast  from  a  hot-air  furnace,  the 
water  salt,  still  my  feelings  for  my  country  were 
as  ardent,  my  faith  in  her  future  as  true,  and  my 
hope  for  her  advancement  as  unabated  as  they 
would  have  been  under  better  circumstances." 

Such  was  the  feeling  of  this  Virginian  for  his 
country. 

Writing  of  secession,  from  Texas  in  the  begin 
ning  of  1861,  he  said,  "The  South,  in  my  opin 
ion,  has  been  aggrieved  by  the  act  of  the  North. 
I  feel  the  aggression  and  am  willing  to  take 
every  proper  step  for  redress.  It  is  the  principle 
I  contend  for,  not  individual  or  private  interest. 
As  an  American  citizen  I  take  great  pride  in 
my  country,  her  prosperity  and  institutions. 
But  I  can  anticipate  no  greater  calamity  for  this 
country  than  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  It 
would  be  an  accumulation  of  all  the  evils  we 
complain  of,  and  I  am  willing  to  sacrifice  every 
thing  but  honor  for  its  preservation.  I  hope, 
therefore,  that  all  constitutional  means  will  be 
exhausted  before  there  is  a  resort  to  force.  Se 
cession  is  nothing  but  revolution.  .  .  .  Still  a 

*  Letter  of  August  4th,  1856,  cited  in  Jones's  Lee,  p.  80. 


44  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

Union  that  can  only  be  maintained  by  swords 
and  bayonets,  and  in  which  strife  and  civil  war 
are  to  take  the  place  of  brotherly  love  and 
kindness,  has  no  charm  for  me.  I  shall  mourn 
for  my  country,  and  for  the  welfare  and  progress 
of  mankind.  If  the  Union  is  dissolved  and  the 
government  disrupted,  I  shall  return  to  my 
native  state  and  share  the  miseries  of  my  people, 
and,  save  in  defence,  will  draw  my  sword  no 
more."  * 

The  agonizing  which  he  endured,  when  the 
crucial  time  came,  may  possibly  never  be  known 
to  us.  All  night  nearly  he  paced  his  chamber 
floor  alone,  often  seeking  on  his  knees  the 
guidance  of  the  God  he  trusted  in.  But  in 
the  morning  light  had  come.f  His  wife's  fam 
ily  were  strongly  Union  in  their  sentiments,  and 
the  writer  has  heard  that  powerful  family  in 
fluences  were  exerted  to  prevail  on  him  to 
adhere  to  the  Union  side.  "My  husband  has 
wept  tears  of  blood,"  wrote  Mrs.  Lee  to  his  old 
commander,  Scott,  who  did  him  the  justice  to 
declare  that  he  knew  he  acted  under  a  com 
pelling  sense  of  duty. 

His  letters  to  his  family  and  to  his  friends, 

*  Letter  of  January  23,  1861.  Cited  in  Jones's  "  Life  and  Letters 
of  R.  E.  Lee,"  p.  120. 

t  Jones's  "Life  and  Letters  of  Robert  E.  Lee,"  p.  132. 


THE   CHOICE   OF   HERCULES          45 

though  self-restrained,  as  was  the  habit  of  the 
man,  show  plainly  to  those  who  knew  his  char 
acter  how  stern  was  the  sense  of  duty  under 
which  he  acted  when  in  his  own  person  he  had 
to  meet  the  question  whether  he  should  take 
part  against  his  native  State.  Unlike  many 
other  officers  who  knew  no  home  but  the  post 
where  they  were  quartered,  Lee's  home  was  in 
Virginia,  and  to  this  home  in  his  most  distant 
service  his  heart  had  ever  yearned. 

Lee  had  no  personal  interests  to  subserve  con 
nected  with  the  preservation  of  the  institution  of 
slavery;  his  inclinations  and  his  views  all  tended 
the  other  way.  "  In  this  enlightened  age,"  he  had 
already  written,  "there  are  few,  I  believe,  but  will 
acknowledge  that  slavery  as  an  institution  is  a 
moral  and  political  evil."  He  had  set  free  the 
slaves  he  owned  in  his  own  right  and  was  "  in  favor 
of  freeing  all  the  slaves  in  the  South,  giving  to 
each  owner  a  bond  to  be  the  first  paid  by  the  Con 
federacy  when  its  independence  should  be  se 
cured."* 

The  slaves  owned  by  Mrs.  Lee  he  manumitted 
in  1862  or  in  January,  1863.  In  fact,  it  is  acuri- 

*"The  Confederate  Cause  and  Conduct  in  the  War,"  p.  22; 
Offical  Report  of  the  History  Committee,  Grand  Camp,  C.  V., 
by  the  late  Hunter  McGuire,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  Richmond,  Va.  See 
also  Lee's  letter  of  December  27,  1856,  "  Life  and  Letters  of 
Robert  E.  Lee  ";  Jones,  p.  82. 


46  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

ous  commentary  on  the  motives  connected  with 
the  war  that  while  Lee  had  set  his  slaves  free, 
Grant  is  said  to  have  continued  in  the  posses 
sion  of  slaves  until  they  were  emancipated  by  the 
Government  of  the  United  States.* 

It  was,  however,  not  so  much  the  freeing  of 
these  slaves  as  the  compassion  and  affection  that 
breathe  in  his  letters  about  them  that  testify  his 
character.  His  care  that  every  one  should  have 
his  papers  even  though  he  might  have  gone  off  to 
the  North;  his  provision  for  their  wages;  his 
solicitude  for  the  weak  and  feeble  among  them; 
all  testify  to  the  feeling  that  the  Virginia  master 
had  for  his  servants.  His  thoughts  were  con 
stantly  with  his  children — even  amid  the  most 
arduous  duties  and  the  most  perilous  scenes  his 
mind  reverted  to  them.  His  letters  from  Mexico 
were  full  of  them.  On  Christmas  eve  he,  in  his 
imagination,  filled  their  stockings,  as  on  another 
occasion;  in  lieu  of  his  own  children,  from  whom 
he  was  far  distant,  he  acted  Santa  Claus  and 
bought  presents  for  all  the  children  in  the  post. 
He  ever  kept  in  touch  with  his  children,  writing 
them  of  the  interesting  scenes  through  which  he 
passed.  To  his  eldest  son,  then  a  schoolboy,  later 

*Ibid.,  p.  23,  note,  where  Mrs.  Grant  is  given  as  authority,  the 
statement  that  "these  slaves  came  to  him  from  my  father's  fam 
ily;  for  I  lived  in  the  West  when  I  married  the  General,  who  was 
then  a  Lieutenant  in  the  Army." 


THE  CHOICE  OF   HERCULES  47 

a  gallant  and  efficient  soldier  of  high  rank,  he 
wrote,  just  after  the  Battle  of  Cerro  Gordo,*  how, 
in  the  battle,  he  had  wondered  while  the  musket 
balls  and  grape  were  whistling  over  his  head  in  a 
perfect  shower,  where  he  could  have  put  him  if  with 
him,  to  be  safe.  Indeed,  all  through  his  life  children 
had  a  charm  for  him  known  only  to  the  starved 
heart  of  a  father  exiled  from  his  own  fireside  and 
little  ones.  To  the  day  of  his  death,  the  entrance 
of  a  child  was  a  signal  for  the  dignified  soldier  to 
unbend,  and  among  his  latest  companions  in  his 
retirement,  when  he  was,  perhaps,  the  most  noted 
Captain  in  the  world,  were  the  little  sunbonneted 
daughters  of  the  professors  of  the  college  of  which 
he  was  the  President. 

The  crisis  that  came  rent  Virginia.  It  was 
known  that  in  the  event  of  war,  should  Virginia 
secede,  her  soil  would  become  the  battle  ground. 
Lee  had  no  illusion  as  to  this;  nor  had  he  any 
illusion  as  to  the  fury  and  duration  of  the  war 
if  it  should  come.  Whatever  delusions  others 
might  cherish,  he  knew  the  Union  thoroughly, 
and  knew  the  temper  and  the  mettle  of  the 
people  of  both  sections.  In  the  dread  shadow  of 
war  the  people  of  Virginia  selected  for  the  great 
convention,  which  was  to  decide  the  question  of 
remaining  in  the  Union  or  taking  part  with  the 

*  Letter  of  April  25,  1847. 


48  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

other  Southern  States,  the  most  conservative 
men  within  her  borders.  Thus,  the  Virginia 
convention  was  a  Whig  body  with  a  large  ma 
jority  of  staunch  Union  men,  the  first  Whig 
body  that  ever  sat  in  the  State. 

Throughout  its  entire  duration  this  great  body 
of  representative  Virginians  resisted  all  the  in 
fluences  that  were  brought  to  bear  on  it,  both 
from  the  South  and  from  the  people  of  the  State, 
who,  under  unreasoning  provocation,  gradually 
changed  their  opinion  and  began  to  clamor  for 
secession.  Only  two  weeks  before  the  final  act 
by  which  she  severed  her  connection  with  the 
Union,  she,  by  a  two-thirds  majority,  rejected 
the  idea  of  secession.  A  relief  squadron  sailed 
for  Charleston  while  negotiations  were  going  on, 
and  preparations  for  war  were  being  pushed 
which  could  only  mean  one  thing.  As  a  last 
and  supreme  effort  to  prevent  war,  Union  men 
went  to  Washington  to  beg  Mr.  Lincoln  to 
withdraw  the  garrisons  of  Sumter  and  Pickens, 
and  understood  him  to  say  that  he  had  been 
willing  to  take  it  under  favorable  considera 
tion.*  The  reply  when  it  came  was  the  im 
perative  call  for  troops  to  be  furnished  by  the 
States.  It  meant  war  and  the  invasion  of  the 

*  Report  of  Joint  Committee  on  Reconstruction,  ist  Sess., 
39th  Cong.,  pp.  71,  114-115- 


THE  CHOICE  OF  HERCULES          49 

State.  Even  after  Sumter  was  fired  on,  every 
effort  was  made  by  the  State  to  bring  about  a 
reconciliation  between  the  estranged  and  di 
vided  sections.  But  it  was  too  late.  Troops 
were  already  marching  on  her.  The  State  did 
not  make  war.  War  was  made  on  her.  And 
under  the  shock  Virginia,  on  the  iyth  day  of 
April,  solemnly  reversed  her  former  action  and 
seceded  from  the  Union  she  had  done  so  much 
to  create  and  so  much  to  make  great. 

"To  have  acceded  to  the  demand  (for  her 
quota  of  troops  to  attack  South  Carolina) 
would,"  says  Henderson,  "have  been  to  abjure 
the  most  cherished  principles  of  her  political 
existence.  .  .  .  Neutrality  was  impossible.  She 
was  bound  to  furnish  her  tale  of  troops  and  thus 
belie  her  principles,  or  to  secede  at  once  and 
reject  with  a  clean  conscience  the  President's 
mandate.  .  .  .  The  world  has  long  since  done 
justice  to  the  motives  of  Cromwell  and  of 
Washington,  and  signs  are  not  wanting  that 
before  many  years  have  passed  it  will  do  justice 
to  the  motives  of  the  southern  people." 

Speaking  of  Virginia's  action  specifically,  he 
declares,  "Her  best  endeavors  were  exerted  to 
maintain  the  peace  between  the  hostile  sections, 
and  not  till  her  liberties  were  menaced  did  she 
repudiate  a  compact  which  had  become  intoler- 


50  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

able.  It  was  to  preserve  the  freedom  which  her 
forefathers  had  bequeathed  her,  and  which  she 
desired  to  hand  down  unsullied  to  future  genera 
tions,  that  she  acquiesced  in  the  revolution."* 

"  I  can  contemplate  no  greater  calamity  for 
the  country  than  a  dissolution  of  the  Union," 
wrote  Lee  in  January.  In  April  the  calamity  had 
come.  Virginia  had  been  invaded  and  had 
risen  to  repel  the  invasion.  The  Union  was 
dissolved  in  so  far  as  his  State  was  concerned. 

Her  action  concluded  her  citizens.  This  was 
Lee's  view,  and  it  was  the  view  of  every  man 
who  sat  in  her  Convention,  Unionist  and  Seces 
sionist.  Ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  of 
the  intelligent  men  in  what  was  known  as  Old 
Virginia,  the  great  section  east  of  the  Allegha- 
nies  which  had  largely  made  her  history,  bowed 
to  her  decree  and  not  with  the  less  unanimity 
that  a  considerable  element  among  them  were 
grief-stricken  at  her  decision  to  separate  from 
the  Union  which  their  fathers  had  done  so 
much  to  create.f 

Among  these  was  Robert  E.  Lee.     Before  him 

*  Henderson's  "Life  of  Stonewall  Jackson."     I.     pp.  101-2. 

f  The  writer's  father  was  a  staunch  Union  man,  and  stood  out 
against  secession  till  the  last;  but  three  days  after  Virginia  seceded 
he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  an  infantry  company,  known  as  the 
"Patrick  Henry  Rifles,"  Co.  C.,  3d  Va.  Reg't,  later  i5th  Va. 
Reg't,  and  fought  through  to  Appomattox. 


THE  CHOICE  OF  HERCULES          51 

stood  the  example  of  his  life-long  model,  Wash 
ington,  who,  having  fought  with  Braddock 
under  the  English  flag,  when  war  came  between 
England  and  his  State,  threw  in  his  lot  with  his 
people.  To  him  his  thoughts  recurred  not  only 
at  this  moment  of  supreme  decision,  but  years 
afterwards  in  the  seclusion  of  the  little  mountain- 
town,  where  he  spent  the  evening  of  his  days  as 
the  head  of  the  academic  institution  which 
Washington  had  endowed. 

Two  or  three  days  later,  on  the  2Oth  of  April, 
the  same  day  on  which  he  tendered  the  resigna 
tion  of  his  command  of  his  regiment  of  cav 
alry,  he  wrote  to  both  his  brother  and  sister, 
informing  them  of  the  grounds  of  his  action. 
To  his  brother,  with  whom  he  had  had  an  ear 
nest  consultation  on  the  subject  two  days  before, 
he  stated  that  he  had  no  desire  ever  again  to 
draw  his  sword  save  in  defence  of  his  native 
State.  To  his  sister  he  wrote: 

"With  all  my  devotion  to  the  Union  and  the 
feeling  of  loyalty  and  duty  of  an  American  citi 
zen,  I  have  not  been  able  to  make  up  my  mind 
to  raise  my  hand  against  my  relatives,  my 
children,  my  home.  I  have,  therefore,  resigned 
my  commission  in  the  army,  and  save  in  defence 
of  my  native  State,  with  the  sincere  hope  that 
my  poor  services  may  never  be  needed,  I  hope  I 


52  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

may  never  be  called  on  to  draw  my  sword.  I 
know  you  will  blame  me;  but  you  must  think  as 
kindly  of  me  as  you  can,  and  believe  that  I  have 
endeavored  to  do  what  I  thought  right." 

All  that  we  know  is  that,  sacrificing  place  and 
honors  and  emoluments;  leaving  his  home  to  the 
sack  of  the  enemy  already  preparing  to  seize  it, 
he  decided  in  the  sight  of  God,  under  the 
all-compelling  sense  of  duty,  and  this  is  enough 
for  us  to  know.  His  letter  to  General  Scott 
tendering  his  resignation  is  full  of  noble  dignity 
and  not  without  a  note  of  noble  pathos.  "I 
shall  carry  to  the  grave,"  he  says  in  its  conclu 
sion,  "the  most  grateful  recollection  of  your 
kind  consideration,  and  your  name  and  fame 
will  always  be  dear  to  me."  And  to  his  dying 
day  he  always  held  his  old  commander  in  un- 
diminished  affection. 

Yet,  however  clear  Lee  was  in  his  view  as 
to  his  own  duty,  he  left  others  to  judge  for 
themselves.  Holding  that  the  matter  was  one  of 
conscience,  he  did  not  attempt  to  decide  the 
momentous  question  for  others — not  even  for  his 
own  son.  Nearly  a  month  after  he  had  resigned 
(May  13,  1861),  he  wrote  his  wife,  "Tell  Custis 
he  must  consult  his  own  judgment,  reason,  and 
conscience  as  to  the  course  he  may  take.  I  do 
not  wish  him  to  be  guided  by  my  wishes  or  ex- 


THE  CHOICE  OF  HERCULES          53 

ample.  If  I  have  done  wrong  let  him  do  better. 
The  present  is  a  momentous  question,  which 
every  man  must  settle  for  himself  and  upon 
principle." 

After  the  war,  when  he  was,  perhaps,  the  most 
famous  captain  of  the  world,  he  from  time  to 
time  recurred  to  this  action.  For  example,  in  a 
letter  to  General  Beauregard,  written  the  day 
after  his  entrance  on  his  duties  at  Washington 
College,  he  refers  to  it. 

"I  need  not  tell  you,"  he  says,  "that  true 
patriotism  sometimes  requires  men  to  act  ex 
actly  contrary  at  one  period  to  that  which  it 
does  at  another — and  the  motive  which  impels 
them — the  desire  to  do  right — is  precisely  the 
same.  History  is  full  of  illustrations  of  this. 
Washington  himself  is  an  example.  [He  was 
ever  his  example.]  He  fought  at  one  time 
against  the  French  under  Braddock,  in  the  ser 
vice  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain;  at  another  he 
fought  with  the  French  at  Yorktown,  under  the 
orders  of  the  Continental  Congress,  against  him. 
He  has  not  been  branded  by  the  world  with  re 
proach  for  this;  but  his  course  has  been  ap 
plauded." 

To  the  Committee  of  Congress  before  which 
he  was  called  after  the  war,  he  stated  that  he  re 
signed  because  he  believed  that  the  act  of  Vir- 


54  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

ginia  in  withdrawing  herself  from  the  United 
States  carried  him  along  with  it  as  a  citizen  of 
Virginia,  and  that  her  laws  and  acts  were  bind 
ing  upon  him.* 

On  one  other  occasion  he  stated  his  motives 
in  his  action  at  this  crisis. f  He  says,  "I  must 
give  you  my  thanks  for  doing  me  the  justice 
to  believe  that  my  conduct  during  the  last  five 
years  has  been  governed  by  my  sense  of  duty. 
I  had  no  other  guide,  nor  had  I  any  other  object 
than  the  defence  of  those  principles  of  American 
Liberty  upon  which  the  Constitutions  of  the 
several  States  were  originally  founded,  and  un 
less  they  are  strictly  observed  I  fear  there  will 
be  an  end  to  Republican  Government  in  this 
country." 

While  the  harpies  were  screaming  and  clam 
oring;  and  blind  partisanry  was  declaiming 
about  leaving  him  to  the  "avenging  pen  of 
History,"  his  high  soul  dwelt  in  the  serene  air 
of  consciousness  of  duty  performed.  He  said 
to  General  Wade  Hampton  in  June,  1869,  "I 
could  have  taken  no  other  course  save  in  dis 
honor,  and  if  it  were  all  to  be  gone  over  again  I 
should  act  in  precisely  the  same  way." 

*  Report  of  Joint  Com.  on  Reconstruction,  ist  Sess.,  39th 
Cong.,  p.  133. 

t  In  a  letter  of  July  9,  1866,  to  an  old  friend  in  Illinois,  Captain 
James  May. 


THE  CHOICE  OF  HERCULES          55 

Thus  spoke  his  constant  soul.  It  was  his  de 
liberate  judgment  on  calm  reflection,  with  all 
the  consequences  known  to  him.  As  before 
writing  it  he  cast  his  mind  back  he  must  have 
seen  everything  in  the  clear  light  of  the  inex 
orable  past — the  sacrifice  of  the  chief  command 
of  the  Union  armies,  with  a  great  fleet  at  his 
back  to  keep  open  his  lines  of  communication, 
hold  the  world  for  his  recruiting  ground,  and 
blockade  the  enemy's  country  until  starvation 
forced  capitulation.  It  had  lifted  Grant  from 
poverty  and  obscurity  to  the  Presidency,  while 
his  own  choice,  to  follow  his  State  and  obey  her 
sacred  laws,  had  reduced  him  from  station  and 
affluence  to  poverty  and  toil.  His  beautiful 
home  had  been  confiscated  and  turned  into  a 
cemetery,  and  its  priceless  treasures,  endeared 
by  association  with  Washington,  had  been 
seized  and  scattered.  A  trial  for  treason  had 
been  threatened  and  the  furious  pack  were  yet 
trying  to  hunt  him  down.  Yet  there  was  no  re 
pining — no  questioning.  "There  was  quietness 
in  that  man's  mind."  When  the  sky  was  darkened 
he  had  simply  lighted  the  candles  and  gone  on 
with  his  duty. 

*'  Duty  is  the  sublimest  word  in  our  language,"Y 
he  had  declared  long  before,  and  by  it  as  a  pilot- 
star  he  ever  steered  his  steadfast  course,  abiding 


56  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

with  calm  satisfaction  whatever  issue  God 
decreed. 

"We  are  conscious  that  we  have  humbly 
tried  to  do  our  duty,"  he  said,  about  a  year  after 
the  war;  "we  may,  therefore,  with  calm  satis 
faction  trust  in  God  and  leave  results  to  him.'* 

In  this  devotion  to  duty  and  calm  reliance  on 
God  lay  the  secret  of  his  life.  The  same  spirit 
animated  his  great  lieutenant.  "Duty  belongs 
to  us,  consequences  belong  to  God,"  said  Jack 
son.  The  same  spirit  animated  the  men  who 
followed  them.  It  was  the  teaching  of  the 
Southern  home,  which  produced  the  type  of 
character,  the  deep  foundations  of  which  were 
devotion  to  duty  and  reliance  on  God. 


CHAPTER  IV 

RESOURCES 

A  ND  now,  dealing  with  the  fruits  of  character, 
we  come  to  the  proposition,  whether  Lee 
was,  as  some  have  claimed,  a  great  captain  only 
for  defensive  operations,  or  was  a  great  captain 
without  reservation  or  limitation — one  of  the 
great  captains  of  history  whose  genius  was  equal 
to  every  exigency  of  war  to  which  human  genius 
may  rise. 

The  question  involved  is  of  his  greatness  both 
as  a  soldier  and  as  a  man.  And  to  some  extent 
it  reaches  far  beyond^he  confines  of  the  South 
and  involves  the  basicroaits  of  race  and  of  civil 
ization.  It  was  nobly  said  by  Mr.  Charles 
Francis  Adams,  Sr.,  to  whom  almost  as  much  as 
to  Lincoln  or  Grant  the  final  result  of  the  war 
was  due,  when,  as  the  representative  of  the 
United  States  in  England,  he  was  challenged  on 
an  occasion  with  the  argument  that  the  armies  of 
the  South  had  defeated  the  armies  of  the  North, 
and  was  asked  what  he  had  to  say  about  it, 
"That  they  also  are  my  countrymen."  Thus, 

57 


58  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

Lee's  genius  and  Lee's  fame  are  the  possession 
of  the  whole  country  and  the  whole  race  which 
his  virtue  honored. 

We  may  ask  ourselves  first,  what  constitutes  a 
great  captain  ?  The  question  takes  us  far  into 
the  records  of  both  War  and  Peace.  To  most 
men  the  answer  will  come  by  the  process  of  re 
calling  the  few — the  very  few — whom  history  has 
by  universal  consent  placed  in  the  first  rank. 
They  are  Alexander,  Hannibal,  Caesar,  Freder 
ick,  and  Napoleon,  with  Cromwell,  Turenne, 
Eugene,  Gustavus,  Marlborough,  Washington, 
Wellington,  in  a  class  so  close  to  them  in  fame  as 
to  leave  in  doubt  the  rank  to  which  at  least  one 
or  two  of  them  should  be  assigned.  And  on 
their  heels  crowd  a  concourse  of  captains  great 
and  victorious,  yet  easily  distinguishable  from  the 
first,  if  confusingly  close  on  the  others. 

Napoleon  reckoned,  as  his  masters  for  constant 
study,  the  first  four  and  Gustavus,  Turenne  and 
Eugene. 

Among  the  modern  captains  stand  two  con 
spicuous  Americans:  Washington,  whose  great 
ness  proved  equal  to  every  exaction  and  who 
gave  promise  that  he  would  have  commanded 
successfully  under  all  conditions  that  might 
have  arisen;  and  the  persistent,  indomitable 
Grant,  victor  of  Vicksburg,  Missionary  Ridge 


RESOURCES  59 

and  Appomattox,  not  so  brilliant  as  Marlborough 
or  Frederick,  for  no  flashing  stroke  of  genius  like 
Blenheim  or  Leuthen  adorned  his  record,  but 
able,  resourceful,  constant,  indomitable,  like 
Scipio  or  Cromwell. 

What  placed  those  few  men  in  the  first  rank 
before  all  others  ?  Not  final  success.  For 
though  success  final  and  absolute  crowned  most 
of  them,  final  and  irrevocable  defeat  was  the  last 
reward  of  others  and  these  the  greatest:  Han 
nibal  and  Napoleon.  Such  rank  then  was  won 
notwithstanding  final  defeat;  and  in  reckoning 
its  elements,  final  success  bears  no  definite  part. 

Studying  these  captains  closely,  what  gifts  do 
we  discern  in  all,  divided  as  they  were  by  cen 
turies  and  by  the  equally  vast  gulf  of  racial  dif- 
erences  ?  First,  Imagination — the  divine  imagi 
nation  to  conceive  a  great  cause  and  the  means 
to  support  it.  It  may  be  to  conquer  the  world;  or 
Rome;  or  Europe.  I  conceive  that  it  was  this 
supreme  gift  that  led  Alexander  to  sleep  with  the 
casket-set  of  the  Illiads  under  his  pillow  with  his 
dagger  and  to  declare  them  the  best  compendium 
of  the  soldier's  art. 

Next  there  must  be  the  comprehensive  grasp 
that  seizes  and  holds  firmly  great  campaigns  in 
their  completeness  together  with  the  mastery  of 
every  detail  in  their  execution,  both  great  and 


60  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

small.  There  must  be  a  tireless  mind  in  a  tire 
less  body,  informed  with  zeal;  incarnate  energy; 
the  mental,  moral  and  physical  courage  in  com 
plete  and  overpowering  combination  to  compel 
men  to  obedience,  instant  and  loyal  under  all 
conditions  whatsoever;  to  inspire  them  with  new 
forces  and  the  power  to  carry  out  orders  through 
every  possible  chance  and  change.  These  give 
the  grand  strategy.  Its  foundation  is  the  combi 
nation  in  a  brave  soldier  of  a  rare  imagination 
and  of  a  rarer  intellect.  No  amount  of  fighting 
power  or  of  capacity  for  calling  it  forth  in  others 
proves  this  endowment.  In  the  Napoleonic 
wars,  "Ney  and  Blu'cher,"  says  Henderson, 
"were  probably  the  best  fighting  generals  of 
France  and  Prussia.  But  neither  could  be 
trusted  to  conduct  a  campaign."  * 

Then  there  must  be  the  supreme  constancy  to 
withstand  every  shock  of  surprise  or  defeat  with 
out  a  tremor  or  a  doubt,  before  which  mere 
courage  becomes  paltry,  and  constant,  imminent 
danger  dwindles  to  a  bare  incident,  serving  only 
to  quicken  the  spirit  and  fan  its  last  ember  to  a 
consuming  flame. 

With  these  must  exist  an  intuitive  and  pro 
found  knowledge  of  human  nature  and  of  men, 
singly  and  in  combination;  power  to  divine  the 

*  Henderson's  "Stonewall  Jackson,"  I.,  p.  93. 


RESOURCES  61 

adversary's  every  design  and  to  fathom  his  deep 
est  intention;  equal  to  every  exigency,  amount 
ing  to  inspiration;  all  culminating  in  the  power 
to  foresee,  to  prepare  for,  divine  and  seize  the 
critical  moment  and  win  where  others  would 
lose,  or,  having  lost,  save  where  others  would  be 
destroyed;  and  equally  profound  and  exact 
knowledge  of  the  art  of  war  as  practised  by  the 
great  masters  of  all  ages.  And  finally,  fusing 
all  in  one  complete  and  harmonious  whole, 
crowning  this  whole  with  the  one  final  and  abso 
lute  essential  must  be  the  God-given  personal 
endowment  of  genius;  undefined,  undefinable; 
sometimes  flaming  at  the  very  first,  sometimes 
slumbering  through  years  to  burst  forth  at  some 
moment  of  supreme  crisis;  sometimes  hardly 
recognized  until  its  light  is  caught  down  the 
long  perspective  of  the  years,  but  when  caught 
recognized  as  genius. 

Without  this  a  man  may  be  a  great  captain,  a 
victorious  captain;  but  not  the  greatest  or  among 
the  greatest. 

Thus,  we  come  to  the  measure  of  Lee's  great 
ness  as  a  captain. 

The  measure  of  a  captain's  abilities  must  rest, 
at  last,  on  his  achievement  as  gauged  by  his  re 
sources. 

Let  us  see  what  Lee  accomplished  with  his 


62  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

means;  then  we  shall  be  the  better  able  to  reckon 
the  measure  of  his  success.  Let  us  turn  aside 
for  a  moment  for  the  consideration  of  a  few 
figures.  They  are  a  dry  and  unpalatable  diet, 
but,  after  all,  it  was  to  the  science  of  arithmetic 
that  the  South  yielded  at  the  end. 

The  South  began  the  war  with  a  white  popu 
lation  of  about  5,500,000.  Of  these  her  mili 
tary  population  numbered  about  1,065,000.* 

The  North  began  the  war  with  a  white  popu 
lation  of  about  22,000,000.  Of  these  her  fight 
ing  men,  whom  she  could  call  into  the  field, 
numbered  about  3,900,000. f 

The  South  enlisted  about  900,000.  The 
North  enrolled  of  her  fighting  men  about  1,700,- 
ooo;  J  besides  which  she  enlisted  of  foreigners 
about  700,000,  and  of  negroes  about  186,000. 

The  North  had  an  organized  National  Govern 
ment  with  all  departments — State,  War,  Navy, 
Treasury  and  Justice,  perfectly  organized  and 
equipped,  while  the  South  had  to  organize  her 
Confederated  Government.  The  North  had  about 

*  Besides  these  she  had  a  servile  population  of  about  3,500,000, 
of  which  a  certain  proportion  were  available  for  raising  subsistence 
for  the  army. 

f  Besides,  of  the  negroes  the  North  drew  into  her  armies  about 
186,000,  they  being  the  most  able-bodied  of  this  class. 

\Cf.  "Numbers  and  Losses  in  the  Civil  War  in  America,"  pp.  40 
and  50.  Colonel  Thomas  L.  Livermore.  Houghton,  Mifflin 
&Co. 


RESOURCES  63 

$11,000,000,000  of  taxable  values  as  against 
about  $5,000,000,000  in  the  South,  of  which 
$2,000,000,000  was  represented  by  the  slaves. 
The  North  had  by  far  the  best  means  of  trans 
portation,  a  large  percentage  of  the  efficient 
railways  and  the  means  of  railway  equipment. 

In  addition  to  this  the  North  had  nearly  all 
the  manufactures,  and  possessed  a  superiority 
in  equipment  that  is  incalculable.  When  the 
war  broke  out,  the  South  could  scarcely  manu 
facture  a  tin-cup  or  a  frying-pan,  a  railway-iron, 
a  wool-card,  or  a  carpenter's  tool.  The  North 
possessed  nearly  the  whole  old  Navy,  the  naval 
forces,  and  the  population  from  which  the  sea 
men  were  drawn.  And  finally  and  above  all, 
the  North  had  the  ear  of  the  world. 

With  this  superiority  she  was  enabled  to 
blockade  the  South  and  lock  her  within  her  own 
confines,  while  the  world  was  open  to  her  and 
she  could  await  with  what  patience  she  could 
command,  the  fatal  result  of  "the  policy  of 


attrition." 


No  adequate  account  of  the  value  of  the  Navy 
to  the  Union  side  has  ever  been  given,  or,  at 
least,  has  ever  reached  the  public  ear.  Had  the 
Navy  been  on  the  side  of  the  Confederacy  in 
stead  of  on  the  Union  side,  it  is  as  certain  that 
the  South  would  have  made  good  her  position 


64  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

as  is  any  other  fact  established  by  reason.  The 
Navy  with  its  200,000  men  enabled  the  Union 
not  only  to  seal  up  the  South  against  all  aid 
from  without,  but  to  penetrate  into  the  heart 
of  the  Confederacy,  command  her  interior 
waters  and  form  at  once  the  base  of  supplies 
for  the  Union  Armies  when  advancing  and  their 
protection  when  defeated.* 

It  is  not  meant  to  imply  that  figures  give  an 
exact  statement  of  the  problem  that  was  worked 
out  during  the  war;  but  they  cast  a  light  upon  it 
which  contributes  greatly  to  its  just  compre 
hension. 

In  round  numbers  the  South  had  on  her 
muster-rolls,  from  first  to  last,  less  than  900,000 
men.  And  in  this  list  the  South  had  all  she 
could  muster;  for,  at  the  last,  she  had  enlisted 
in  her  reserves  all  men  between  sixteen  and  sixty 
years.  In  round  numbers  the  North  had  2,700,- 
ooo,  and  besides,  had  all  Europe  as  her  recruit 
ing  field. f 

*C/.  Henderson's  "Stonewall  Jackson,"  I.,  Chap.  V.,  p.  113. 
"  Judicious  indeed,"  he  says,  "  was  the  policy  which  at  the  very 
outset  of  the  war  brought  the  tremendous  pressure  of  the  sea- 
power  to  bear  against  the  South." 

f  Col.  Thomas  S.  Livermore  of  Boston,  author  of  the  notable 
work,  "Numbers  and  Losses,"  in  a  letter  to  the  writer,  says,  "I 
suppose  that  it  would  be  safe  to  assume  that  eighty  per  cent,  (of 
the  enlistments)  would  hold  in  all  the  Northern  States.  This 
would  give  about  2,234,000  individuals  in  the  army.  The  Record 


RESOURCES  65 

When  the  war  closed,  the  South  had  in  the 
field,  throughout  her  territory,  but  175,000  men 
opposed  to  the  armies  of  the  North,  numbering 
980,000  men.* 

and  Business  Bureau,  in  its  memorandum  of  1896,  computed  the 
average   estimates  of  reenlistments   by   different   authorities   at 

543>393-" 

The  Confederate  forces  he  estimates  at  "  1,239,000,  the  number 
shown  by  the  census  to  have  been  within  the  conscript  age,  less  the 
number  of  exempts  (partly  estimated  and  partly  recorded),  and  an 
estimate  of  the  natural  deaths;  or  at  about  1,000,000  estimated  pro 
portionally  to  the  killed  and  wounded  in  the  two  armies."  It  will  be 
seen  that  his  first  estimate  above  takes  no  account  of  the  numbers 
of  Southerners  in  the  mountain  regions  who  sided  with  the  Union. 

Gen.  Marcus  J.Wright  places  the  total  number  of  the  Southern 
troops  at  less  than  700,000.  The  total  number  within  the 
conscript  age  he  places  at  1,000,065. 

Henderson,  in  his  "Life  of  Stonewall  Jackson,"  estimates  them 
at  about  900,000. 

I  have  felt  that  possibly  this  trained  and  impartial  soldier  of  an 
other  nation  might  have  arrived  at  a  fairer  estimate  than  any  one 
on  this  side  the  Atlantic. 

For  calculations  of  Col.  Livermore  and  General  Wright,  see 
Appendix  A. 

*Of  346,744  Federal  soldiers  examined  for  military  service 
after  March  6,  1863,  sixty-nine  per  cent  were  Americans,  the  rest 
were  foreigners.  In  the  35th  Massachusetts  Regiment,  which, 
says  Henderson,  may  be  taken  as  a  typical  Northern  regiment,  of 
495  recruits  received  during  1864,  400  were  German  immigrants. 
— Henderson's  "Life  of  Stonewall  Jackson,"  ist  Ed.,  I.,  p.  466. 

The  South,  or  rather  those  orators  who  stood  as  the  econo 
mists  of  the  South,  had  supposed  that  her  cotton  and  tobacco  were 
so  necessary  to  the  rest  of  the  world  that  the  European  nations 
would  take  her  part,  out  of  plain  consideration  for  their  own  wel 
fare.  It  was  a  great  error.  The  value  of  the  cotton  crop  exported 
in  1860  was  $202,741,351.  In  1861,  it  was  $42,000,000.  In 
1862,  it  was  $4,000,000.  After  that  it  was  next  to  nothing. 


66  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

Towards  the  close  of  the  war  the  South  was 
well  nigh  stripped  naked,  and  for  what  was  left 
she  had  no  means  of  transportation.  She  had 
no  nitre  for  her  powder;  no  brass  for  her  per 
cussion  caps;  the  very  kettles  and  stills  from  the 
plantations  had  been  used;  and  when  it  was  nec 
essary  to  repair  one  railroad  as  a  line  for  trans 
portation,  to  meet  the  emergency  the  best  rails 
were  taken  up  from  another  road  less  important. 

The  commissariat  and  the  quartermaster's  de 
partment  were  bad  enough.  Study  of  the 
matter  will,  however,  convince  any  one  that 
at  the  very  last  it  was  rather  owing  to  the  des 
perate  condition  of  the  lines  of  transportation 
than  to  mere  inefficiency  of  the  commissariat 
and  the  quartermaster's  department,  to  which 
it  has  been  so  often  charged,  that  Lee  failed  to 
carry  out  his  final  plan  of  effecting  a  junction 
with  Johnston.* 

In  fact,  from  the  first,  a  considerable  propor 
tion  of  the  equipment  of  the  Southern  armies 
and  all  of  their  best  equipment  had  been  cap 
tured  by  them  on  the  field  of  battle.  So  regu 
lar  had  been  their  application  to  this  source  of 
supply  that,  says  Henderson  in  his  "Life  of 

*  I  can  remember  my  surprise  as  a  boy  at  seeing  wagons 
hauling  straw  from  my  home  to  Petersburg,  sixty-odd  miles, 
through  roads  the  like  of  which,  I  trust  in  Grace,  do  not  now  exist 
in  the  United  States. 


RESOURCES  67 

Stonewall  Jackson/5  "the  dishonesty  of  the 
Northern  contractors  was  a  constant  source  of 
complaint  among  the  soldiers  of  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia/' 

An  English  soldier  and  critic,  Colonel  Lawler, 
writing  in  Blackwood's  Magazine,  has  declared 
his  doubt  whether  any  general  of  modern  history 
could  have  sustained  for  four  years — a  longer 
time  nowadays  than  Hannibal's  fifteen  years 
in  Italy  in  times  past — a  war  in  which,  possessed 
of  scanty  resources  himself,  he  had  against  him 
so  enormous  an  aggregate  of  men,  horses,  ships 
and  supplies;  it  is  an  under,  rather  than  an  over 
estimate  to  state  that  during  the  first  two  years, 
the  odds  all  told  were  ten  to  one,  during  the  last 
two  years,  twenty  to  one,  against  the  Confed 
erates.* 

Truly,  then,  said  General  Lee  to  General 
Early,  in  the  winter  of  1865-6,  "It  will  be  diffi 
cult  to  get  the  world  to  understand  the  odds 
against  which  we  fought." 

It  is  known  by  some  in  the  South,  the  surviv 
ors  of  those  armies  who  tracked  the  frozen  roads 
of  Virginia  with  bleeding  feet;  whose  breakfast 
was  often  nothing  but  water  from  a  road-side 
well  and  whose  dinner  nothing  but  a  tightened 
belt.  Some  knew  it  who  knew  the  war-swept 

*Jones's  "Lee,"  p.  75. 


68  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

South  in  their  boyhood,  where  the  threat  was 
that  a  crow  flying  over  it  should  have  to  carry 
his  rations,  and  the  fact  was  more  terrible  than 
the  prophecy. 

But  it  is  well  for  the  race  to  make  the  world 
know  it. 

In  the  foregoing  computation  it  is  true  enough 
to  say  that  we  have  not  reckoned  all  the  resources 
of  the  South.  She  had  Lee  and  she  had  Jack 
son;  she  had  the  men  who  followed  them  and 
the  women  who  sustained  those  men.  "  Lee  and 
Jackson,"  says  Henderson,  in  his  "Life  of 
Stonewall  Jackson,"  "were  worth  200,000  men 
to  any  armies  they  commanded."  Quoting 
Moltke's  saying  that  the  junction  of  two  armies 
on  the  field  of  battle  is  the  highest  achievement 
of  military  genius,  he  says  in  comment:  "Tried 
by  this  test  alone,  Lee  stands  out  as  one  of  the 
greatest  soldiers  of  all  time.  Not  only  against 
Pope,  but  against  McClellan  at  Gaines's  Mill, 
against  Burnside  at  Fredericksburg  and  against 
Hooker  at  Chancellorsville,  he  succeeded  in  carry 
ing  out  the  operations  of  which  Moltke  speaks." 
But  this  is  not  all.  No  reckoning  of  the  oppos 
ing  forces  can  be  made  without  taking  into  ac 
count  the  men  who  followed  Lee  and  Jackson, 
and  the  women  who  stayed  at  home  and  sustained 
them.  No  people  ever  gave  more  promptly  to 


RESOURCES  69 

their  country's  cause  than  did  the  old  American 
element  of  the  North,  or  would  have  been 
readier  had  occasion  arisen  to  suffer  on  their 
country's  behalf.  But  it  is  no  disparagement 
of  them  to  state  the  simple  fact  that  the  war  did 
not  reach  them  as  a  people  as  it  reached  the 
people  of  the  South.  Where  a  class  gave  at  the 
North,  the  whole  population  of  the  South  gave; 
whereas  a  fraction  suffered  at  the  North,  the  en 
tire  population  of  the  South  suffered.  The  rich 
grew  to  be  as  the  poor,  and,  together  with  the 
poor,  learned  to  know  actual  hunger.  The  deli 
cately  nurtured  came  to  be  hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water.  War  in  its  most  brutal 
and  terrible  form  came  to  be  known  all  over 
the  land;  known  in  disease  without  medicines; 
in  life  without  the  common  necessaries  of  life; 
in  ravaged  districts;  bombarded  and  blackened 
towns;  burnt  homesteads,  terrorized  and  starv 
ing  women  and  children.  This  the  South  came 
to  know  throughout  a  large  extent  of  her  terri 
tory.  Yet,  through  it  all,  her  people  bore 
themselves  with  a  constancy  that  must  ever  be 
a  monument  to  them,  and  that  even  in  the  breast 
of  those  who  were  children  in  that  stirring  period 
must  ever  keep  alive  the  hallowed  memory  of 
her  undying  resolution. 

"All  honor  and  praise  to  the  fair  Southern 


;o  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

women!"  declared  a  Richmond  paper  in  the 
closing  days  of  1862.  "May  the  future  his 
torian  when  he  comes  to  write  of  this  war  fail 
not  to  award  them  their  due  share  of  praise." 
No  history  of  this  war  could  be  written  without 
such  due  award.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
as  brave  and  constant  as  were  the  intrepid 
soldiery  that,  with  steadily  wasting  ranks,  fol 
lowed  Lee  from  Seven  Pines  to  Appomattox, 
even  more  brave  and  constant  were  the  women 
who  stayed  at  home.  Gentle  and  simple,  they 
gave  their  husbands,  their  brothers  and  their 
sons  to  the  cause  of  the  South,  sorrowing  chiefly 
that  they  themselves  were  too  feeble  to  stand  at 
their  side.  Hungering  in  body  and  heart  they 
bore  with  more  than  a  soldier's  courage,  more 
than  a  soldier's  hardship,  and  to  the  last,  un 
daunted  and  dauntless,  gave  them  a  new  courage 
as  with  tear-dimmed  eyes  they  sustained  them 
in  the  darkest  hours  of  their  despondency  and 
defeat. 

Such  were  among  the  elements  which  even  in 
the  South's  darkest  hour  Lee  had  at  his  back. 
From  such  elements  Lee  himself  had  sprung 
and  in  his  character  he  was  their  supreme  ex 
pression. 


CHAPTER  V 

LEE  IN  WEST  VIRGINIA 

A  ND  now,  bearing  clearly  in  mind  what  his 
resources  were,  we  may  approach  the  ques 
tion  intelligently :  whether  Lee  was,  as  charged  by 
some,  great  only  in  defence  and  when  on  interior 
lines  and  behind  breast-works,  or  was  really  the 
greatest  soldier  of  his  time,  and,  perhaps,  of  the 
English-speaking  race. 

Immediately  on  his  resignation  from  the 
Army  of  the  United  States,  Lee  was  tendered 
by  the  Governor  of  Virginia  the  command  of 
the  forces  of  the  State  which  was  in  the  throes 
of  preparation  to  repel  the  invasion  of  her  ter 
ritory,  and  on  the  23d  of  April  he  received  at 
the  hands  of  the  President  of  the  State  Con 
vention  the  commission  of  Major-General  of  the 
Virginia  forces.  The  President  of  the  Conven 
tion,  the  Hon.  John  Janney,  in  a  brief  speech, 
recalling  the  example  of  Washington,  an 
nounced  to  him  the  fact  that  the  Convention 
had  by  a  unanimous  vote,  expressed  their  con 
viction  that  among  living  Virginians  he  was 

71 


72  ROBERT  E.   LEE 


"first  in  war";  that  they  prayed  he  might  so 
conduct  the  operations  committed  to  his  charge 
that  it  should  soon  be  said  of  him  that  he  was 
"first  in  peace,"  and  that  when  that  time  came, 
he  should  have  earned  the  still  prouder  dis 
tinction  of  being  "first  in  the  hearts  of  his 
countrymen."  He  further  recalled  to  him  that 
Washington  in  his  will  had  given  his  swords 
to  his  favorite  nephews  with  an  injunction  that 
they  should  never  be  drawn  from  their  scab 
bards  except  in  self-defence  or  in  defence  of 
the  rights  and  liberties  of  their  country. 

He  said  inclosing,  "Yesterday  your  mother 
Virginia  placed  her  sword  in  your  hand,  upon 
the  implied  condition  that  we  know  you  will 
keep  to  the  letter  and  in  spirit,  that  you  will 
draw  it  only  in  defense  and  that  you  will  fall 
with  it  in  your  hand  rather  than  the  object  for 
which  it  was  placed  there  should  fail." 

To  this  Lee  replied  in  the  following  simple 
words:  "Mr.  President  and  gentlemen  of  the 
Convention:  Profoundly  impressed  with  the 
solemnity  of  the  occasion,  for  which  I  must  say 
I  was  not  prepared,  I  accept  the  position  as 
signed  me  by  your  partiality.  I  would  have 
much  preferred  that  your  choice  had  fallen 
upon  an  abler  man.  Trusting  in  Almighty  God, 
an  approving  conscience  and  the  aid  of  my 


LEE  IN  WEST  VIRGINIA  73 

fellow-citizens,  I  devote  myself  to  the  service  of 
my  native  State,  in  whose  behalf  alone  will  I 
ever  again  draw  my  sword." 

Thus,  passing  into  the  service  of  his  native 
State  in  the  dire  hour  of  her  need,  Lee  was  ap 
pointed  a  Major-General  of  Virginia's  forces  to 
resist  the  invasion  of  Virginia's  soil,  and  it  was 
not  until  war  was  flagrant  throughout  the  land, 
and  Virginia  had  been  actually  invaded  that  he 
became  an  officer  of  the  Confederate  States. 

His  first  service  was  to  put  Virginia  in  a  pos 
ture  of  defence.  That  he  promptly  effected  this 
was  shown  on  the  plain  of  Manassas  on  July 
2 1 st.  He  was  the  third  in  rank  of  the  Major- 
Generals  appointed  by  Mr.  Davis,  and  to  this 
fact  was  due  his  assignment  to  Western  Virginia. 

Indeed,  it  is  stated  that  so  far  was  General 
Lee  from  being  influenced  by  any  considerations 
of  a  selfish  nature  that  when  Virginia  joined  the 
Southern  Confederacy  and  left  him  without 
rank,  he  seriously  contemplated  enlisting  in  the 
company  of  cavalry  commanded  by  his  son.* 

The  game,  as  it  appears  now  to  all  and  as  it 
appeared  then  to  those  who  had  to  shoulder  the 
responsibility  of  playing  it,  was,  on  the  one  side, 
the  sealing  up  of  the  South  within  its  own  bor 
ders;  the  suppression  of  the  power  of  the  Border 

*  Jones's  "  Life  and  Letters  of  Robert  E.  Lee." 


74  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

States,  such  as  Maryland,  Kentucky  and  Mis 
souri,  to  join  the  South,  and  the  cutting  in  two 
of  the  section  already  seceded;  on  the  other,  it 
was  the  simple  maintenance  of  the  status  quo  of 
the  seceded  section;  the  power  to  exercise  the 
right  of  secession  in  the  Border  States;  and  the 
resistance  of  invasion.  There  was  no  claim  on 
the  part  of  the  South  to  the  right  of  invasion  and 
no  thought  of  invasion  of  the  North  until  the  ex 
actions  of  war  made  it  necessary  as  a  counter- 
stroke.  Even  after  the  victory  of  Manassas  the 
Confederate  Government  held  back  the  eager 
Jackson  and  sustained  the  prudent  Johnston. 
Such  being  the  game  it  was  played  on  both  sides 
with  clear  vision  and  impressive  determination. 
And  no  one  saw  more  clearly  than  Lee  the  mag 
nitude  of  the  impending  struggle. 

Of  Lee's  far-sightedness  we  have  signal  proof 
in  his  letters.  While  others  discussed  the  war 
as  a  matter  of  days  and  occasion  for  a  summer 
holiday,  he,  with  wider  knowledge  and  clearer 
prevision,  reckoned  its  duration  at  full  four 
years,  and  possibly  at  even  ten.  It  is  said  that 
one  of  the  few  speeches  he  ever  made  was  that 
in  which,  responding  to  urgent  calls  from  a 
crowd  assembled  at  a  railway  station  to  see  him, 
he,  in  a  few  grave  sentences,  bade  them  go 
home  and  prepare  for  a  long  and  terrible  war. 


LEE  IN  WEST  VIRGINIA  75 

"We  must  make  up  our  minds,"  he  wrote  in 
February  of  1862,  "to  meet  with  reverses  and 
to  overcome  them.  But  the  contest  must  be 
long  and  the  whole  country  has  to  go  through 
much  suffering."  * 

His  views  on  the  matter  of  the  Trent  were  as 
sound  as  though  he  had  been  trained  in  di 
plomacy  all  his  life.  "I  think/'  he  writes,  "the 
United  States  Government,  notwithstanding  this 
moral  and  political  commitment  at  Wilkes'  act, 
if  it  finds  that  England  is  earnest,  and  that  it 
will  have  to  fight  or  retract,  will  retract.  We 
must  make  up  our  minds  to  fight  our  battles 
ourselves,  expect  to  receive  aid  from  no  one, 
and  make  every  necessary  sacrifice  of  money, 
comfort  and  labor  to  bring  the  war  to  a  success 
ful  close.  The  cry  is  too  much  for  help.  I  am 
mortified  to  hear  it.  We  want  no  aid.  We 
want  to  be  true  to  ourselves,  to  be  prudent, 
just  and  bold."  f 

The  first  steps  taken  at  the  North  were  to 
blockade  the  Southern  ports  from  the  Chesa 
peake  to  the  Rio  Grande  with  the  efficient  navy 
of  the  Union;  to  seize  the  Mississippi  and  to 
overawe  the  Border  States. 

*  Letters  to  Mrs.  Lee,  dated  April  30,  1861,  and  February  8, 
1862.    Jones's  "Lee,"  p.  150. 
t  Letter  to  his  son,  Gen.  G.  W.  C.  Lee,  December  29,  1861. 


76  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

The  western  portion  of  Virginia,  traversed  by 
the  great  Appalachian  Range  stretching  in  a 
vast  barrier  across  the  State,  and  penetrated  only 
by  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  had,  partly 
by  reason  of  the  origin  and  character  of  the 
population,  partly  by  reason  of  their  direct  asso 
ciation  with  the  North  and  West,  but  mainly 
owing  to  the  absence  of  slaves  among  them,  been 
unaffected  by  the  causes  which  created  the 
friction  between  the  North  and  South.  Here  in 
this  mountainous  and  substantially  non-slave- 
holding  region,  bordering  on  the  States  of  Ohio 
and  Pennsylvania,  and  mainly  trading  by  way 
of  the  Ohio  River  and  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio 
Railroad  with  the  North  and  West,  the  popula 
tion  was  almost  as  strongly  Union  in  sentiment 
as  that  of  the  States  with  which  they  marched, 
and,  finally,  when  the  conflict  came,  the  major 
portion  of  the  population  sided  with  the  North 
and  stood  for  the  Union.  And  here  McClellan, 
outmatching  the  commands  and  the  commanders 
opposed  to  him,  soon  showed  substantial  success 
for  the  Union  side. 

The  importance  of  securing  this  great  sec 
tion  of  the  leading  Southern  State  was  mani 
fest  to  both  sides,  and  from  the  first  troops 
were  thrown  into  the  State  by  both  sides  to  con 
trol  and  hold  it.  General  Garnett  had  been 


LEE  IN  WEST  VIRGINIA  77 

early  dispatched  with  a  command  to  protect 
the  western  border,  and  awe  into  submission  the 
wavering  and  the  disaffected.  The  course  of 
events,  however,  had  made  the  eastern  rather 
than  the  western  border  of  this  section  the  seat 
of  operations,  with  Harper's  Ferry  and  Win 
chester  as  the  key  to  the  situation,  and  when 
Harper's  Ferry,  soon  after  the  first  outbreak 
of  war,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Federal 
troops,  McClellan  had  seized  the  passes  that 
commanded  the  western  region  and  fortified 
them  strongly.  The  gallant  Garnett  had  fallen 
soon  after  the  evacuation  of  Harper's  Ferry, 
and  Rosecrans,  who  had  succeeded  to  the 
command  of  the  troops  dispatched  to  hold 
Western  Virginia  on  McClellan's  being  trans 
ferred  to  Washington,  was  now  leading  an  in 
vading  force  up  the  Kanawha,  while  Reynolds 
was  posted  on  the  Cheat  River  to  guard  the  chief 
avenue  of  communication  between  the  East  and 
the  West. 

The  Confederate  forces  in  this  mountainous 
region  were  divided  into  several  detachments, 
two  of  them  on  the  Kanawha  under  command, 
respectively,  of  Generals  Floyd  and  Wise,  and  two 
others  farther  eastward  under  Generals  Loring 
and  H.R.Jackson,  among  whom  the  spirit  of  co 
operation  left  much  to  be  desired.  Owing  part- 


78  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

ly  to  the  hostility  of  the  population  and  partly 
to  the  lack  of  harmony  among  the  commanding 
officers,  the  cause  of  the  South  steadily  waned  in 
this  trans-Alleghany  region,  and  in  July,  after 
Johnston  had  been  offered  the  command  in  this 
territory  and  had  declined  the  billet,  General  Lee 
was  sent  out  to  Western  Virginia  to  take  com 
mand  of  the  somewhat  disorganized  forces  in  that 
hostile  region.  His  reputation,  gained  among 
the  mountains  of  Mexico,  was  doubtless  one  of 
the  motives  which  ruled  when  he  was  assigned  to 
duty  among  the  mountains  of  Western  Virginia; 
but  even  his  abilities  were  not  equal  to  con 
quering  the  conditions  which  he  found  prevailing 
there.  Old  soldiers  with  whom  I  have  discussed 
the  causes  of  the  result  of  this  campaign  have 
never  given  wholly  satisfactory  reasons  for  it, 
but  have  felt  assured  that  all  that  could  have 
been  accomplished  Lee  accomplished.  They 
have  felt  that  in  the  first  place  the  dissensions 
of  the  officers  previously  in  command  had 
tended  to  demoralize  the  troops;  then,  that  the 
sickness  among  the  troops  unaccustomed  to  the 
exposure  or  prostrated  by  an  epidemic  of  typhoid 
fever,  measles,  and  other  diseases,  impaired 
their  efficiency,  and  finally,  that  the  unlooked-for 
hostility  of  the  population  at  large,  in  a  region 
where  it  was  difficult,  at  best,  to  maintain  lines 


LEE  IN  WEST  VIRGINIA  79 

of  communication,  now  in  a  season  unprecedent- 
ly  wet,  which  rendered  the  roads  impassable, 
combined  with  lack  of  means  of  transportation 
to  frustrate  the  plans  of  even  as  capable  a  com 
mander  as  Lee. 

Lee's  report  makes  mention  of  the  difficulty  of 
maintaining  his  lines  of  communication  owing 
to  the  exhausted  condition  of  his  horses  and  the 
impossibility  of  obtaining  supplies;  so  it  may 
be  assumed  that  this  was  in  his  view  the  chief 
reason  for  the  failure  of  the  campaign. 

The  first  object  of  Lee's  offensive  operations 
was  the  destruction  of  Reynolds,  posted  on  Cheat 
Mountain.  The  movement,  however,  proved 
a  failure  because  the  frontal  attack,  which 
was  to  be  the  signal  for  the  assault  intended 
to  be  made  by  the  body  of  troops  sent  by  night 
across  the  mountains  to  attack  Reynolds'  posi 
tion  in  the  rear,  was  not  made  as  ordered  by  Lee, 
and  the  flanking  force,  having  had  their  am 
munition  damaged  and  their  provisions  destroyed 
by  a  furious  storm  which  raged  all  night,  miss 
ing  the  concerted  signal,  returned  across  the 
mountains  without  making  the  expected  assault. 
If  any  one  else  was  to  blame  for  this  failure  to 
carry  out  Lee's  well-conceived  plan,  the  com 
mander,  with  the  magnanimity  characteristic  of 
him,  simply  passed  it  by  as  he  later  did  similar 


8o  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

failures  on  the  part  of  his  subordinates,  assum 
ing  himself  whatever  blame  attached  to  the 
failure. 

The  second  opportunity  which  apparently  of 
fered  itself  and  was  allowed  by  Lee  to  pass 
fruitlessly  by,  was  when  Rosecrans'  army, 
which  lay  before  him  at  Sewell's  Mountain  was 
allowed  to  slip  away  unmolested.  Lee  gave  as 
his  reason  for  his  apparent  non-action,  that  he 
was  confident  of  defeating  Rosecrans  by  a  flank 
ing  movement  which  he  had  planned  for  the 
following  night  and  that  he  "could  not  afford 
to  sacrifice  five  or  six  hundred  of  his  people  to 
silence  public  clamor." 

The  "public  clamor"  over  Lee's  failure  was 
bitter  and  persistent,  but  he  remained  unruffled 
by  it.  With  characteristic  calm  he  simply  stated 
that  it  was  "only  natural  that  such  hasty  conclu 
sions  should  be  reached,"  and  gave  his  opinion 
that  it  was  "better  not  to  attempt  a  justification 
or  defence  but  to  go  steadily  on  in  the  discharge 
of  our  duty  to  the  best  of  our  ability,  leaving  all 
else  to  the  calmer  judgment  of  the  future  and  to 
a  kind  Providence." 

Happily  for  the  South,  Mr.  Davis  knew  Lee 
better  than  those  who  were  so  clamorous  against 
him,  and  the  autumn  having  closed  the  cam 
paign  in  Western  Virginia,  Lee  was  dispatched 


LEE  IN  WEST  VIRGINIA  81 

to  the  South  to  design  and  construct  a  general 
system  of  coast-defences  along  the  Atlantic  sea 
board,  a  duty  in  which  he  displayed  such  genius 
that  he  rendered  the  coast  cities  of  Georgia  and 
South  Carolina  impregnable  against  all  assaults 
by  sea,  and,  protected  by  his  chain  of  forts,  they 
stood  as  memorials  of  his  genius  until  Sherman 
with  his  victorious  army  attacked  them  by  land. 
His  letters  give  a  clear  picture  of  the  difficulties 
of  protecting  these  seaport  towns  against  a  navy 
without  some  sort  of  navy  to  oppose  it. 

This  duty  performed,  Lee,  in  the  shadow  of 
the  vast  preparations  making  at  Washington, 
for  a  great  invasion  of  Virginia,  was  called  back 
to  Richmond  to  advise  the  President  of  the  Con 
federacy,  and  the  need  was  urgent,  for  Mc- 
Clellan,  with  Johnston  falling  back  slowly  before 
him,  was  marching  steadily  up  the  Peninsula, 
with  an  army  the  like  of  which  had  never  been 
commanded  by  one  man. 

The  first  campaign  in  which  Lee  engaged,  like 
Washington's  first  campaign,  was  thus  conducted 
with  adverse  fortune.  Had  Washington's  mili 
tary  career  closed  after  the  retreat  from  Long 
Island,  he  would  have  been  reckoned  simply  a 
brave  man  and  a  stark  fighter,  but  one  unequal 
to  general  command.  Had  Lee's  career  ended 
after  the  campaign  in  Western  Virginia,  when  he 


82  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

was  derisively  characterized  in  the  anti-adminis 
tration  press  of  Richmond,  as  "Evacuating 
Lee,"  he  would  have  been  known  in  history  only 
as  a  fine  organizer,  a  capital  scout,  and  a  bril 
liant  engineer  of  unusual  gallantry,  whose  abili 
ties  as  a  commander  were  not  superior  to  those 
of  the  mediocre  officer  who  opposed  him  in  that 
experimental  campaign,  and  were  possibly  equal 
only  to  the  command  of  a  brigade,  or  at  best, 
of  a  division.  But  the  South  and  Fame  awaited 
his  opportunity. 

As  soon  as  Lee  was  brought  back  from  the 
South,  and  was  again  appointed  military  adviser 
to  the  President,  he  revolutionized  the  plan  of 
campaign  hitherto  followed.  His  clear  vision 
saw  the  imperative  necessity  of  substituting  an 
aggressive  for  a  defensive  policy,  and  he  un 
leashed  the  eager  Jackson  on  the  armies  in  the 
Valley  of  Virginia,  keeping  them  fully  occupied 
and  so  alarming  Washington  as  to  hold  McDow 
ell  on  the  north  side  of  the  Rappahannock. 
Within  a  month  after  he  was  placed  in  com 
mand  he  perfected  his  plans  and  fell  upon 
McClellan  and  defeated  the  greatest  army  that 
had  ever  stood  on  American  soil.  The  next 
three  years  proved  beyond  cavil  that  in  the  first 
campaign,  as  always,  all  that  could  have  been 
done  with  his  forces  by  any  one,  was  done  by 


LEE  IN  WEST  VIRGINIA  83 

Lee.  Within  one  year,  indeed,  he  had  laid  the 
foundation  of  a  fame,  as  a  great  captain,  as  en 
during  as  Marlborough's  or  Wellington's. 

Three  years  from  this  time  "this  colonel  of 
cavalry"  surrendered  a  muster-roll  of  26,000 
men;  of  which  barely  8,000  muskets  showed  up, 
to  an  army  of  over  130,000  men,  commanded  by 
the  most  determined  and  able  general  that  the 
North  had  found,  and,  defeated,  sheathed  his 
sword  with  what  will  undoubtedly  become  the 
reputation  of  the  greatest  captain  and  the  no 
blest  character  of  his  time. 

In  this  period  he  had  fought  three  of  the  great 
est  campaigns  in  all  the  history  of  war  and  de 
stroyed  the  reputation  of  more  generals  than 
any  captain  had  ever  done  in  the  same  space  of 
time.  His  last  campaign  alone,  even  ending  as 
it  did  in  defeat,  would  have  sufficed  to  fix  him 
forever  as  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude  in  the 
constellation  of  great  captains.  Though  he  suc 
cumbed  at  last  to  the  "policy  of  attrition"  pur 
sued  by  his  patient  and  able  antagonist,  it  was 
not  until  Grant  had  lost  in  the  campaign  over 
124,000  men,  two  men  for  every  one  that  Lee 
had  in  his  army  from  the  beginning  of  the 
campaign. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  SITUATION  WHEN  LEE  TOOK  COMMAND 

VITHEN  McClellan  moved  on  Richmond,  the 
fortunes  of  the  South  appeared  to  be  at 
a  lower  ebb  than  they  ever  were  again  until  the 
winter  of  1864. 

The  general  plan  for  prosecution  of  the  war 
on  the  part  of  the  North  was  the  same  that  had 
been  laid  down  at  the  beginning:  that  is,  to  hold 
the  Border  States;  to  blockade  the  Southern  ports 
and  attack  by  sea;  and  to  seize  the  navigable 
rivers  running  far  up  into  her  territory,  espe 
cially  the  Mississippi,  and  thereby  cut  the  South 
in  two.  By  the  end  of  spring,  1862,  nearly  the 
whole  of  this  far-reaching  and  sagacious  plan 
had  been  measurably  accomplished.  Mary 
land,  Missouri  and  Kentucky  had  been  held 
firmly,  and  in  all  three  States,  except  Missouri, 
Secession  had  been  forcibly  prevented,  while  Mis 
souri  had  been  substantially  conquered. 

The  very  next  day,  after  the  rout  at  Bull  Run, 
Mr.  Lincoln,  awakening  to  the  gravity  of  the 
situation,  had  called  for  500,000  men,  and  the 

84  " 


WHEN  LEE  TOOK  COMMAND         85 

North  had  responded  with  fervor.  Between  the 
4th  of  August  and  the  loth  of  October  more 
than  no  regiments  and  30  battalions,  com 
prising  at  least  112,000  men,  were  added  to  the 
forces  in  Washington  and  its  neighborhood.* 
The  ablest  organizer  in  the  army  had  been  called 
to  the  task  of  organization,  and  proved  to  have  a 
genius  for  it.  All  autumn  and  winter  he  labored 
at  the  work  and  when  spring  came  Washington 
had  been  strongly  fortified,  and  McClellan  found 
himself  at  the  head  of  possibly  the  largest,  best 
equipped  and  best  drilled  army  ever  commanded 
by  one  man  in  modern  times. 

The  spring  of  1862  had  been  spent  by  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  in  preparation 
for  a  campaign  which  should  retrieve  the  errors 
and  disasters  of  the  preceding  year  and,  by 
making  certain  the  capture  of  Richmond,  "  the 
heart  of  the  Confederacy,"  should  end  the  war 
by  one  great  and  decisive  stroke.  It  was  well 
said  that  without  McClellan  there  had  been  no 
Grant. 

Several  plans  for  attacking  Richmond  pre 
sented  themselves,  all  of  which  included  the 
idea  of  cutting  off  the  city  from  communica 
tion  with  the  Southwest.  One  was  by  way  of 
the  Shenandoah  Valley,  striking  the  Virginia 

*  Ropes's  "  Story  of  the  Civil  War,"  I,  p.  167. 


86  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

Central  Railroad  at  Staunton  or  Waynesboro; 
and  marching  on  Richmond  by  way  of  Char- 
lottesville,  whence  a  railway  line  ran  to  South 
west  Virginia  and  Tennessee;  one  by  way  of 
Manassas;  one  by  the  Chesapeake  Bay  and  the 
lower  Rappahannock;  and  finally  one  by  way 
of  the  Chesapeake  Bay  and  the  peninsula  lying 
between  the  York  and  the  James,  which  pre 
sented  the  opportunity  under  certain  contin 
gencies  of  seizing  Petersburg  and  isolating 
Richmond  from  the  South. 

The  practicability  of  all  of  these  plans  of  in 
vasion  had  to  be  considered  quite  as  carefully 
in  Richmond  as  in  Washington,  and  the  possi 
bility  of  each  one  of  them  being  adopted  had  to 
be  provided  against.  As  the  junction  at  Ma 
nassas  had  proved  to  be  the  key  to  the  situation 
in  the  first  effort,  and  its  use  had  enabled  the 
Valley  forces  to  be  brought  across  the  Blue 
Ridge  in  the  nick  of  time  for  the  final  move 
ment  in  the  battle  there,  so  it  still  remained  the 
most  important  point  in  Central  Virginia,  and 
Johnston's  army  was  placed  there  to  guard  it 
and  at  the  same  time  keep  Washington  in  a 
state  of  anxiety.  The  Washington  authorities 
were  in  favor  of  trying  their  fortune  against  this 
point.  McClellan,  however,  favored  the  route 
by  the  Rappahannock.  McClellan's  first  plan 


WHEN  LEE  TOOK  COMMAND         87 

was  to  march  to  Annapolis  and  then  transport 
his  army,  140,000  men,  to  Urbana,  on  the  south 
bank  of  the  Rappahannock  and  "occupy  Rich 
mond  before  it  could  be  strongly  reinforced."  * 

This  plan  he  was  forbidden  to  adopt,  though 
he  considered  it  the  best  of  all  the  plans,  and  he 
thereupon  selected  the  route  by  way  of  Fortress 
Monroe  and  the  Peninsula,  against  the  views 
of  the  Government  authorities,  who  greatly  de 
sired  him  to  adopt  the  overland  route  by 
Manassas  across  which  Johnston  lay  with  an 
army  then  believed  to  number  over  100,000  men; 
but  really  containing  certainly  less  than  half 
that  number. f 

Illness  during  the  autumn  and  early  winter 
of  1 86 1  prevented  McClellan's  acting  with  the 
efficiency  which  he  might  otherwise  have  shown; 
but  even  more  disastrous  than  this  was  his  de 
termination  not  to  move  until  he  had  an  army 
sufficiently  great  and  properly  organized  to  make 
his  success  assured.  For  this  reason  mainly  he 
resisted  alike  the  importunities  of  the  President 
and  the  Secretary  of  War  and  the  clamor  of  the 
public  until  on  toward  the  spring;  by  which  time 
he  had  sacrificed  the  good  will  of  the  former  and 
the  confidence  of  both. 

*  John  C.  Ropes's  "Story  of  the  Civil  War,"  I,  p.  266,  citing 
McClellan's  letter  to  Stanton.     5  W.  R.,  45.  f  Ibid. 


88  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

Jackson  settled  the  question  of  the  Shenan- 
doah  Valley  plan  by  the  battle  of  Winchester 
and  his  brilliant  retreat  between  two  converging 

o      o 

armies  down  the  Valley,  followed  by  the  victory 
of  Port  Republic.  The  authorities  in  Washing 
ton  decided  against  the  Lower  Rappahannock 
plan  and  gave  McClellan  his  choice  between  the 
overland  route  by  way  of  Manassas,  and  the 
Fortress  Monroe  plan,  and  he  states  that  "of 
course  he  selected  the  latter,"  adding  a  jibe  at 
the  fears  of  the  administration  and  a  suggestion 
of  their  disloyalty  to  him.* 

This  decision  was  reached  by  him  in  the  first 
week  in  March,  and  on  the  Qth  of  March  John 
ston,  under  orders  from  Mr.  Davis,  withdrew  his 
army  from  Manassas  and  fell  back  to  the  Rap 
pahannock  and  thence  toward  Richmond,  im 
mediately  on  which  McClellan  occupied  Manas 
sas  with  the  greater  part  of  his  army,f  to  give 
them  training  and  with  a  view  to  opening  the 
railway  from  Manassas,  where  Banks's  head 
quarters  were  to  be,  to  Strasburg  in  the  Shenan- 
doah  Valley.  About  the  middle  of  March 
McClellan  began  to  ship  his  troops  to  Fortress 
Monroe,  a  movement  which  proceeded  rapidly, 
and  Johnston,  thereupon,  "  his  movements  con- 

*  "McClellan's  Own  Story,"  p.  227. 

f  Ropes's  "Story  of  the  Civil  War,"  I,  p.  255. 


WHEN  LEE  TOOK  COMMAND         89 

trolled  by  McClellan,"  marched  to  the  Penin 
sula,  where  Magruder  with  only  some  13,000 
men  at  Yorktown  had  handled  them  so  ably 
that  McClellan  was  led  to  believe  his  force 
much  larger  than  it  was.  Unwilling  to  leave 
such  a  force  on  his  flank  McClellan  had  sat 
down  to  besiege  Yorktown  and  was  held  there 
until  the  beginning  of  May  (3d),  when,  on  the 
eve  of  his  assault,  Magruder  marched  out  and 
fell  back  on  Williamsburg,  where  a  sharp  fight 
occurred,  resulting  in  a  victory  for  the  Federal 
General,  though  the  Confederate  Army  was 
withdrawn  intact. 

The  possession  of  a  fleet  gave  to  the  Union 
forces  the  command  of  the  Chesapeake,  of  the 
Potomac,  of  the  York  and  (after  the  sinking  of 
the -M err i mac  by  her  commander)  of  the  James 
to  within  a  day's  march  of  Richmond. 

In  January  Thomas  had  won  the  battle  of  Mill 
Springs  in  Kentucky,  which  made  the  Union 
forces  dominant  in  that  region.  In  February 
(6th)  Fort  Henry,  on  the  Tennessee,  had  been 
captured,  and  four  days  later  (the  loth)  Fort 
Donelson,  on  the  Cumberland,  had  surren 
dered  unconditionally  to  a  general  hitherto  al 
most  unknown,  to  whom  the  Government  had 
been  inclined  to  turn  the  cold  shoulder,  but  who 
was  to  become  better  known  thereafter.  By 


9o  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

these  victories  the  upper  Mississippi,  the  Cum 
berland  and  the  Tennessee  came  into  the  control 
of  the  Federal  forces,  and  all  that  was  needed  was 
to  obtain  mastery  of  the  lower  Mississippi  to 
leave  the  Confederacy  rent  in  twain.  The  forts 
at  Hatteras  Inlet  had  been  reduced  in  August 
(28th).  Hilton  Head  and  Beaufort,  in  North 
Carolina  had  been  captured,  following  Admiral 
DuPont's  reduction  of  the  forts  on  Port  Royal 
Inlet;  and  Roanoke  Island  and  Newberne, 
N.  C,  had  been  captured  in  the  first  half  of 
March,  1862.  On  April  6th,  Albert  Sydney 
Johnston,  deemed  up  till  now  the  South's  most 
brilliant  soldier,  had  substantially  won  a  battle 
against  the  captor  of  Forts  Henry  and  Donel- 
son,  but  had  been  shot  in  the  hour  of  victory, 
and  that  night,  Buell  having  reached  the 
field  with  fresh  troops,  the  Confederate  forces 
had  been  in  turn  defeated.  It  is  probable  that 
but  for  the  fall  of  Johnston,  who  bled  to  death 
through  neglecting  his  wound  in  his  eagerness 
to  push  his  victory  on  the  6th,  Grant's  fort 
unate  star  might  have  set  at  Shiloh  instead  of 
rising  higher  and  higher  in  the  next  three 
years  to  reach  its  zenith  at  Appomattox.  As 
it  was,  the  upper  Mississippi,  with  its  great 
tributaries,  was  in  complete  control  of  the 
Union,  arid  on  April  24th  Flag  Officer  Farra- 


WHEN  LEE  TOOK  COMMAND         91 

gut,  himself  a  Tennessean,  with  a  powerful 
fleet,  ran  up  the  Mississippi,  successfully  passing 
the  forts  (Jackson  and  St.  Philip)  guarding  its 
mouth,  and  reached  New  Orleans,  which  city 
was  soon  occupied  by  Butler  (May  ist),  its  fall 
being  quickly  followed  by  the  fall  of  Pensacola. 
By  this  time  all  the  important  Florida  seaport 
towns  were  in  the  possession  of  the  Federal 
forces,  and  all  these  captures,  except  Roanoke 
Island  and  Newberne  had  been  effected  by  the 
navy.*  Thus,  the  Mississippi  was  open  from  its 
mouth  to  Port  Hudson,  and  even  that  fort  and 
the  yet  more  threatening  forts  at  Vicksburg  could 
be  passed  by  the  Federal  gunboats,  though  not 
without  danger,  which  it  was  important  to  put 
an  end  to.  The  main  object  of  attack  now  was 
Richmond. 

Thus,  as  the  spring  closed  the  Confederate 
Capital  was  menaced  by  an  army  which  had 
cleared  the  Peninsula  of  its  adversaries  and  was 
believed  to  be  capable  of  taking  Richmond 
whenever  its  general  saw  fit  to  deliver  his  assault. 
Feeling  sure  of  it,  McClellan  approached  leisure 
ly  up  the  north  bank  of  the  Chickahominy  and 
entrenched  his  army  in  the  positions  he  secured 
from  time  to  time,  until  he  was  within  sight  of 
the  spires  of  Richmond,  and  on  quiet  nights  his 

*  Ropes's  "  Story  of  the  Civil  War,"  pp.  182-5. 


92  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

pickets  could  hear  the  sound  of  the  city's  bells 
pealing  the  hours.  McDowell,  with  40,000  men, 
was  on  the  Rappahannock,  not  seventy  miles 
away,  and  was  under  stringent  orders  to  effect 
a  junction  with  McClellan,  who,  to  get  in  touch 
with  him  and  protect  his  base  at  West  Point 
on  the  York,  had  reached  out  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Chickahominy  as  far  as  Hanover 
Court  House  and  the  North  Anna.  Two  armies, 
one  under  Banks  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  and 
the  other  under  Fremont  to  the  westward,  were 
keeping  Stonewall  Jackson  so  fully  engaged 
that  he  was  making  marches  which  gained  for 
his  infantry  the  appellation  of  "foot-cavalry," 
and  to  hold  his  own,  he  was  forced  to  win  two 
battles  in  one  day.  Johnston  had,  in  face  of 
McClellan's  steady  advance,  fallen  back  on 
Richmond,  and  finding  McClellan's  army  di 
vided  by  the  swollen  Chickahominy  had,  on 
May  3  ist,  attacked  his  left  under  Keyes  at 
Seven  Pines  and  driven  him  back  to  Fair  Oaks, 
possibly  missing  a  complete  victory  only  by 
reason  of  Longstreet's  slowness;  then  having 
been  severely  wounded  he  had  been  forced  to 
leave  the  field,  and  next  day  a  renewal  of  the 
attack  under  General  G.  W.  Smith  had  resulted 
in  a  repulse.  And  in  this  crisis  Lee  was  placed 
in  command. 


WHEN   LEE  TOOK  COMMAND         93 

The  situation  at  Richmond,  when  in  succes 
sion  to  Johnston  Lee  was  appointed  in  command 
of  the  army  there  on  the  ist  day  of  June,  was 
substantially  this.  The  Confederate  troops  ly 
ing  between  Richmond  and  McClellan's  army 
numbered  about  70,000  men.  A  steady  retreat 
up  the  Peninsula  had  tended  to  impair  their 
spirit  if  not  their  morale.  The  single  check 
given  to  McClellan  at  Williamsburg  had  re 
sulted  in  nothing  more  practical  than  to  allow 
time  for  the  retirement  on  Richmond,  and  to 
teach  McClellan  a  wholesome  lesson  of  respect 
for  his  enemy.  The  attack  at  Seven  Pines,  on 
the  afternoon  of  May  3ist,  had  been  so  gallantly 
pressed  that  it  had  resulted  in  a  victory,  but  not 
the  complete  victory  that  had  been  expected;  for 
owing  to  Longstreet's  slowness  and  possibly  to 
his  half-heartedness,  which  on  the  3ist  led  him 
to  wait  until  the  afternoon  before  making  the 
assault  planned  for  the  morning  and  thereby 
allowed  Sumner  to  cross  the  falling  Chicka- 
hominy  and  save  Keyes,  and  on  the  next  day 
led  him  to  attack  Sumner  with  only  three  bri 
gades  instead  of  his  full  force,  the  victory  of  the 
3 ist  had  been  followed  by  the  repulse  at  Fair 
Oaks  next  day,  when  General  G.  W.  Smith 
commanded.  In  the  same  way,  a  few  weeks 
later,  as  Henderson  points  out,  he  became 


94  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

responsible  for  the  frontal  battle  of  Malvern 
Hill. 

The  capture  of  Norfolk,  followed  by  the  com 
mand  of  the  Peninsula,  had  opened  the  James 
River  as  high  up  as  Dairy's  Bluff  only  a  few 
miles  below  Richmond  and  had  given  Mc- 
Clellan  command  of  the  river  to  that  point, 
thus  opening  to  him  two  bases  of  supply  on  the 
York  and  jthe  James  respectively,  accessible  by 
water. 

The  fortunes  of  the  Confederacy  in  the  West 
and  along  the  seaboard,  as  we  have  seen,  were 
at  this  time  at  a  low  ebb,  and  McClellan 
now  was  apparently  sure  of  the  capture  of 
the  Confederate  Capital.  Should  it  fall,  Vir 
ginia  was  likely  to  be  overrun  by  the  forces  of 
the  Union,  and  the  principal  seat  of  war  would 
be  the  South  or  the  West.  McClellan's  army 
numbered  about  110,000  men,  now  well  organ 
ized  and  fairly  seasoned;  his  equipment  was  as 
good  as  the  world  could  furnish,  and  he  believed 
himself,  and  he  was  believed  to  be,  a  young  Na 
poleon.  McDowell's  army  composed  of  40,000 
men,  until  a  portion  of  it  was  sent  to  protect 
Washington,  was  at  Fredericksburg,  only  sixty 
miles  away,  clamorous  to  join  him,  and  under 
orders  to  do  so,  while  already  in  the  Shenan- 
doah  Valley,  or  ready  to  march  thither,  was 


WHEN  LEE  TOOK  COMMAND         95 

Fremont  with  20,000  men,  all  operating  to  unite 
and  fall  on  Richmond. 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  situation  when  Lee 
assumed  command  on  June  1st,  1862.  His  pres 
tige  at  this  time  was  far  from  being  what  it  soon 
afterward  became,  or  even  what  it  had  been 
previous  to  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  His  ability 
as  an  engineer  was  recognized;  but  the  proof 
of  a  general  is  victories,  and  that  proof  he  had 
not  given. 


CHAPTER  VII 

BATTLES    AROUND    RICHMOND 

T  EE,  thus  called  from  the  titular  position  of 
Military  Adviser  to  the  President*  to  the 
command  of  the  army  defending  Richmond,  to 
take  the  place  of  Johnston,  found  himself  in 
command  of  about  80,000  men,  70,000  being 
close  by,  while  McClellan  had  not  less  than 
1 10,000.  From  that  moment  the  army  felt  a  new 
hand  and  acknowledged  its  master.  His  first 
act  was  one  which  should  dispel  the  delusion 
that  he  was  great  only  in  defensive  operations. 
Massing  his  troops  suddenly  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Chickahominy  and  calling  Stonewall 
Jackson  from  the  Valley  to  meet  him  at  a  given 
point  at  a  given  hour,  he  fell  upon  McClellan's  en 
trenchments  and  rolled  him  back  to  the  upland 
plain  of  Malvern  Hill.  Was  it  on  the  defensive 
or  the  offensive  that  he  acted  when  he  conceived 
and  carried  through  to  supreme  success  those 
masterly  tactics  ?  Was  he  acting  on  the  defen 
sive  or  offensive  when  again,  dashing  upon  him 

*  June  i,  1862. 

96 


BATTLES  AROUND  RICHMOND        97 

on  the  entrenched  uplands  of  Malvern  Hill,  he 
swept  him  back  to  his  gunboats,  and  shattered 
at  once  his  plans  and  his  prestige  ?  It  was  a 
battle  fought  as  Grant  fought  at  second  Cold 
Harbor,  mainly  by  frontal  attack;  and,  like  the 
plan  of  second  Cold  Harbor,  has  been  criticised 
as  costing  needless  waste  of  life.  But,  unlike 
Grant's  futile  and  costly  assaults,  Malvern  Hill, 
however  bloody  it  was,  proved  successful.  That 
night  McClellan  retreated  to  the  shelter  of  his 
gunboats.  Lee's  audacious  tactics  saved  Rich 
mond.  It  was  not  until  nearly  three  years  had 
passed,  and  until  hundreds  of  thousands  of  lives 
had  been  spent,  and  the  seed-corn  of  the  Confed 
erate  South  had  been  ground  in  the  ever-grind 
ing  mills  of  war,  that  a  Union  picket  ever  again 
got  a  glimpse  of  the  spires  of  Richmond  or  any 
Union  soldier,  other  than  a  prisoner  of  war, 
heard  her  church  bells  pealing  in  the  quiet  night. 
It  had  long  been  plain  to  Lee's  clear  vision  that 
the  best  defence  of  Virginia's  Capital  was  an 
offensive  movement  which  should  menace  the 
Federal  Capital,  and  as  early  as  April  2Qth  he 
had  suggested  to  Stonewall  Jackson,  then  operat 
ing  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  a  threatening 
counter-move,  to  prevent,  if  possible,  McDowell 
from  crossing  the  Rappahannock.  Two  weeks 
before  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines  he  had  again 


98  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

prompted  Jackson  to  move  on  Banks,  and,  if 
successful,  drive  him  back  toward  the  Potomac 
and  create  the  impression  that  he  intended  to 
threaten  that  line,  a  movement  in  which  Jackson 
was  completely  successful.  Thus,  Lee  had, 
with  the  aid  of  his  able  Lieutenant,  stopped  the 
armies  of  Fremont  and  McDowell  from  any 
attempt  to  reinforce  McClellan,  and  was  ready 
when  the  moment  came  to  carry  out  his  far- 
reaching  plan  to  defeat  and  possibly  destroy 
by  one  swift  blow  McClellan's  great  army  now 
lying  at  the  gates  of  Richmond  and  holding  both 
sides  of  the  Chickahominy. 

It  is  no  part  of  the  plan  of  this  book  to  discuss 
in  detail  Lee's  consummate  tactics;  but  a  bare 
outline  of  his  far-seeing  plan  is  necessary. 

Johnston  had  attacked  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Chickahominy  and  failed  to  dislodge  Mc 
Clellan.  What  would  Lee  do  ?  His  first  act 
was  to  retire  his  army  to  the  original  position 
held  before  the  assault  at  Seven  Pines  and  fortify 
on  the  south  bank  of  the  Chickahominy,  to  secure 
that  side  of  the  river  while  he  prepared  for  his 
coup  on  the  north  bank  against  McClellan's 
right  wing,  commanded  by  the  gallant  Fitz  John 
Porter.  Thus,  he  had  as  his  first  move  with 
drawn  his  army  even  nearer  Richmond  than 
before.  But  he  had  no  idea  of  remaining 


BATTLES  AROUND   RICHMOND        99 

there  idle  while  McClellan  prepared  to  dis 
lodge  him.  To  secure  accurate  information 
he  dispatched  Stuart  with  a  small  force  (about 
1, 200  cavalry  and  a  battery  of  horse  artil 
lery)*  to  investigate  around  his  right  flank,  and 
the  dashing  cavalry  leader  swept  entirely  around 
McClellan's  army  in  a  ride  that  gave  him  fame 
the  world  over  and  placed  him  forever  among 
the  great  cavalry  captains  of  History.f  Next, 
Jackson  was  instructed  to  strike  a  blow  in  the 
Valley  which  should  startle  Washington,  and, 
while  they  were  still  dazed,  to  hasten  and  join 
Lee  on  the  Chickahominy,  and  with  his  veter 
ans  act  as  Lee's  left  wing  in  a  blow  on  McClel 
lan's  right,  which  should  drive  him  from  before 
Richmond.  To  make  sure  of  this  as  well  as  to 
lull  McClellan  to  a  sense  of  security,  several 
brigades  were  sent  somewhat  ostentatiously  to 
Jackson;  but  time  appeared  so  important  that 
Jackson  was  summoned  to  join  him  without 
waiting  for  a  stroke  in  the  Valley,  and  putting 
his  troops  in  motion  the  General  rode  ahead  to 
Richmond  to  learn  the  details  of  Lee's  plans 
and  then  rode  back  to  hurry  forward  his  troops, 
already  pushing  on  by  forced  marches  toward 
the  field  where,  by  Lee's  brilliant  plan,  the  as- 

*  Walter  H.  Taylor's  "  General  Lee,"  p.  58. 
f  Henderson's  "  Stonewall  Jackson." 


ioo  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

sault  was  to  be  delivered  at  dawn  on  the  26th 
by  his  combined  forces.* 

With  Jackson  up,  Lee's  army  numbered  about 
80,000  men.f  His  plan  briefly  was  for  Jackson, 
with  his  veterans,  to  advance  at  crack  of  day 
on  June  26th,  with  Stuart  on  his  left,  and  turn 
the  long  right  wing  of  McClellan's  army,  under 
Porter,  posted  at  Mechanicsville,  in  a  strong 
position,  commanding  the  turnpike  across  the 
Chickahominy,  with  Beaver  Dam  Creek  and  its 
upland  behind  it;  for  Branch's  Brigade,  facing 
Porter,  to  keep  in  touch  with  Jackson  and  on  his 
advance  to  cross  the  Chickahominy  and  rejoin 
his  commander  A.  P.  Hill;  for  A.  P.  Hill,  as 
soon  as  he  knew  Jackson  was  engaged,  to  cross 
the  Chickahominy  at  the  Meadow  Bridge  and 
force  the  crossing  of  the  Chickahominy  at  the 
Mechanicsville  Bridge;  for  Longstreet  to  cross 
to  the  support  of  A.  P.  Hill  and  for  D.  H.  Hill 
to  cross  to  the  support  of  Jackson;  meanwhile 
Magruder  and  Huger  were  to  hold  the  defences 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Chickahominy  and 
keep  McClellan's  main  army  well  occupied. 

Lee's  plan  was  the  consummation  of  audac 
ity,  for  it  would  leave  only  25,000  men  to  con 
front  and  hold  McClellan's  left  wing  and  centre 

*  Walter  H.  Taylor's  "General  Lee,"  p.  60. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  62. 


BATTLES  AROUND   RICHMOND      101 

on  the  south  bank  of  the  Chickahominy,  while 
he  assaulted  his  right  wing  on  the  north  bank 
with  his  main  army.  The  time  fixed  for  the 
assault  was  based  on  Jackson's  conviction  that 
he  could  be  up  and  ready  to  attack  at  daylight 
on  the  26th  of  June.  But  for  once  in  his  life 
Jackson  was  not  "up."  He  was  to  have  been 
at  the  Slash  Church  near  Ashland  on  the  25th, 
and  was  to  bivouac  near  the  Central  Railway 
(now  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio),  ready  to 
march  at  three  o'clock  on  the  morning  .of  the 
26th  on  the  road  to  Pole  Green  Church  to 
deliver  the  assault  which  was  to  be  the  signal  to 
A.  P.  Hill  to  cross  the  Chickahominy.  But  it 
was  not  until  late  that  afternoon  that  he  was 
able  to  reach  the  neighbourhood  of  the  field  of 
battle,  where  the  fight  had  been  raging  for  sev 
eral  hours,  and  even  then  he  did  not  attack,  but 
halted  and  lay  with  the  roar  of  the  guns  to  his 
right  distinctly  audible. 

A.  P.  Hill  having  waited  all  day  for  news 
of  Jackson,  finally,  fearful  that  the  whole 
plan  might  miscarry,  moved  at  three  o'clock, 
crossed  the  Chickahominy  at  Meadow  Bridge 
and  carried  the  stoutly  defended  position 
of  Mechanicsville,  several  miles  below,  and 
pushing  forward,  assaulted  furiously,  but  in 
vain,  the  strongly  defended  position  beyond 


102  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

Beaver  Dam  Creek.  That  night,  McClellan 
retired  his  left  wing  to  his  second  line  above 
Powhite  Creek,  Gaines's  Mill  and  Cold  Har 
bor.  And  here  Lee  attacked  him  again,  and, 
after  terrific  fighting,  defeated  him  in  the  furi 
ous  battle  of  Gaines's  Mill  and  Cold  Harbor, 
seizing  his  position;  capturing  his  line  of  com 
munication  to  West  Point,  and  driving  him 
across  the  Chickahominy,  forced  him  to  aban 
don  his  threatening  position  on  its  south  side 
and  fall  back  across  White  Oak  Swamp  to  Mal- 
vern  Hill  some  miles  to  the  rear.  It  was  a  bril 
liant  stroke  for  Lee  to  have  massed  50,000  men 
on  the  north  bank  of  the  Chickahominy  and 
crushed  McClellan's  right  wing,  while  he  held 
the  rest  of  his  army  with  only  25,000  men,  and 
had  Jackson  attacked  on  the  morning  of  the 
26th,  as  planned,  or  possibly  even  on  the  morn 
ing  of  the  27th,  the  victory  might  have  been  yet 
more  decisive.*  But  it  was  necessary  to  do 
more  to  drive  McClellan  back  from  before 
Richmond. 

On  the  28th  Lee  held  his  army  in  hand, 
watchful  to  see  which  way  McClellan,  after  his 
staggering  blow,  would  move,  whether  by  the 
way  he  had  come,  up  the  Peninsula,  or  toward 
the  James,  and  as  soon  as  it  became  apparent 

*  Taylor's  "  General  Lee,"  pp.  68-78. 


BATTLES   AROUND   RICHMOND       103 

what  he  would  do,  ordered  his  troops  to  the 
south  side  of  the  Chickahominy  and  proceeded 
to  attack  again  at  Savage  Station  on  the  2Qth, 
and  at  White  Oak  Swamp  and  Frazier's  Farm 
on  the  30th,  carrying  every  position  except  one, 
which  was  held  with  heroic  constancy  until 
night-fall  and  then  abandoned.  The  failure  of 
some  of  his  lieutenants  to  grasp  the  situation 
prevented  the  complete  success  of  his  plans, 
and  McClellan  got  safely  across  White  Oak 
Swamp.  On  July  ist  Lee  found  McClellan  en 
trenched  in  a  formidable  position  on  the  up 
lands  of  Malvern  Hill,  and  again  flung  himself 
upon  him  with  immense  loss  to  his  own  army, 
but  with  the  result  of  forcing  him  to  abandon 
his  position  and  retreat  precipitately  by  night  to 
the  shelter  of  his  gunboats  at  Harrison's  Land 
ing. 

Thus,  Lee  had,  with  less  than  80,000  men, 
by  his  audacious  tactics  and  masterly  handling 
of  his  troops,  defeated  McClellan  with  more 
than  105,000  men,  and  driven  him  from  posi 
tion  after  position,  relieving  Richmond  from 
what  had  appeared  imminent  danger  of  im 
mediate  capture. 

Military  critics  have  often  wondered  why 
Jackson,  who  both  before  and  after  the  seven 
days'  fighting  around  Richmond,  proved  him- 


104  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

self  the  most  eager,  prompt  and  aggressive  lieu 
tenant  that  any  commander  had  during  the 
war,  should  apparently  have  been  so  slow  in  the 
execution  of  the  plan  entrusted  to  him  in  this 
critical  movement.  Old  soldiers,  who  followed 
and  adored  him,  still  discuss  the  mysterious 
failure,  and  admit  that  "Old  Jack"  was  "not 
himself"  at  this  crisis. 

An  explanation  has  been  given  that  he  mis 
took  the  road  leading  toward  the  field  of  Cold 
Harbor,  and  missed  his  way. 

The  writer,  as  a  resident  of  that  region, 
familiar  with  the  country  and  with  the  dis 
cussion  of  the  facts,  ventures  to  suggest  a 
simple  explanation.  As  is  known,  Jackson, 
after  a  brilliant  but  arduous  campaign  in 
the  Shenandoah  Valley,  moved  his  troops 
from  the  Valley  of  Virginia  along  the  line 
of  the  Virginia  Central  Railway,  marching 
some  and  conveying  some  on  the  few  railway 
trains  he  could  procure,  and  when  the  latter 
were  far  enough  ahead  of  those  who  were 
marching,  he  detrained  them  and  set  them  to 
marching,  sending  the  trains  back  to  bring  up 
the  others  and  take  them  on  ahead  some  dis 
tance,  when  they  were  in  turn  detrained  and 
sent  forward. 

The  distance  from  the  Valley  to  the  Chicka- 


BATTLES  AROUND   RICHMOND      105 

hominy  being  about  130  miles,  the  bringing 
forward  of  his  troops,  even  with  the  indifferent 
assistance  of  his  trains,  occupied  several  days: 
and  the  General  himself,  with  a  staff  officer  or 
two,  at  a  point  some  sixty  odd  miles  west  of 
Richmond,  left  the  train  and  rode  to  Richmond 
to  consult  with  Lee  as  to  details,  and,  as  I  be 
lieve,  to  familiarize  himself  somewhat  with  the 
roads,  which  through  Hanover  are  very  confus 
ing.  It  is  of  record  that  he  then  thought  he 
could  be  up  and  ready  to  co-operate  with  Hill 
on  the  25th,  but  General  Longstreet  claims 
that  he  urged  that  this  was  impossible  and 
that  if  not  the  27th,  at  the  earliest  the  26th 
should  be  set  for  the  attack,  which  was  agreed 
to.  At  Beaver  Dam  Station,  on  the  Rail 
way  forty  miles  from  Richmond,  the  last  troops 
were  taken  from  the  train,  and,  together  with 
those  who  had  been  marching  the  day  be 
fore,  took  the  road  for  Richmond  by  way  of 
Honeyman's  Bridge  over  the  Little  River,  and 
then,  owing  to  high  water  in  the  South  Anna, 
instead  of  taking  the  shorter  route  by  Ground- 
squirrel  Bridge  they  marched  byway  of  Ashland. 
From  Little  River  to  the  field  of  Cold  Harbor, 
the  roads  are  deep  with  sand,  water  is  scant, 
and  in  the  blazing  days  of  late  June  the  prog 
ress  of  the  troops  was  much  slower  than  had 


106  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

been  reckoned  on,  and  the  move  took  nearly  a 
day  longer  than  had  been  counted  on.  Mean 
while,  Jackson,  who  had  left  his  train  and  ridden 
sixty  odd  miles  to  Richmond  to  confer  with 
Lee,  rode  straight  back  to  bring  his  men  for 
ward,  met  them  at  a  point  more  than  fifty  miles 
from  Richmond,  and  returned  with  them. 
Thus,  when  he  reached  the  slashes  of  Hanover, 
he  had  been  in  the  saddle  almost  continuously 
for  several  days  and  nights,  and  was  completely 
broken  down.* 

Members  of  a  troop  of  cavalry,  known  as  the 
Hanover  troop,  (Company  C,  4th  Virginia 
Cavalry)  who  came  from  that  region,  were 
detailed  to  act  as  guides  for  the  troops,  and 
the  man  detailed  to  guide  Jackson, f  on  reaching 
the  neighborhood  of  the  battlefield,  found  so 
many  new  roads  cut  by  McClellan's  troops, 
and  so  many  familiar  landmarks  gone,  that 
he  became  confused,  and  led  the  column  some 
distance  on  the  wrong  road  before  discover 
ing  his  error.  It  then  became  necessary  to  re 
trace  their  way;  but  marching  the  other  troops 
back  and  turning  around  the  artillery  in  the 

*  I  remember  as  a  boy  seeing  Jackson's  columns  passing  down 
the  road  near  my  home  in  Hanover,  some  fifteen  miles  above 
Ashland,  and  every  hour  or  so  the  men  were  made  to  lie  down  full 
length  on  the  ground  to  rest. 

f  Lincoln  Sydnor. 


BATTLES  AROUND  RICHMOND      107 

narrow  road,  bordered  by  forest  and  thickets, 
much  time  was  lost.  Ewell,  who  was  pres 
ent,  threatened  to  hang  the  guide;  but  Jack 
son  intervened,  and  bade  him  guide  them 
back.* 

However  it  was,  Lee  relieved  Richmond,  and 
the  war,  from  being  based  on  the  issue  of  a 
single  campaign,  was  now  a  matter  of  years 
and  treasure. 

The  results  of  the  battles  around  Richmond 
were  summed  up  by  Lee  as  follows: 

In  his  General  Order  (No.  75,  dated  July 
7,  1862),  tendering  his  "warmest  thanks  and 
congratulations  to  the  army  by  whose  valor  such 
splendid  results  were  achieved,"  he  says,  "On 
Monday,  June  26th,  the  powerful  and  thor 
oughly  equipped  army  of  the  enemy  was  in 
trenched  in  works  vast  in  extent  and  most 
formidable  in  character,  within  sight  of  our 
capital. 

"To-day  the  remains  of  that  confident  and 
threatening  host  lie  upon  the  banks  of  the 

*  The  fact  of  Jackson's  complete  prostration  is  mentioned  in  a 
letter  written  at  the  time  by  his  aide  de  camp,  the  gallant  Lt.  Col. 
Alexander  S.  Pendleton,  killed  later  at  Fisher's  Hill.  The  other 
circumstances  I  had  stated  to  me  in  a  letter  from  A.  R.  Ellerson, 
Esquire,  a  member  of  the  Hanover  troop,  whose  home  was  near 
Mechanicsville,  and  who  was  with  Sydnor  at  Jackson's  head 
quarters  and  was  sent  with  dispatches  from  General  Lee.  See 
Appendix  B. 


io8  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

James  River,  thirty  miles  from  Richmond, 
seeking  to  recover,  under  the  protection  of  his 
gunboats,  from  the  effects  of  a  series  of  disas 
trous  defeats. 

"The  immediate  fruits  of  your  success  are 
the  relief  of  Richmond  from  a  state  of  siege, 
the  routing  of  the  great  army  that  so  long 
menaced  its  safety,  many  thousand  prisoners 
including  officers  of  high  rank,  the  capture  or 
destruction  of  stores  to  the  value  of  millions, 
and  the  acquisition  of  thousands  of  arms  and 
fifty-one  pieces  of  superior  artillery." 

He  concludes,  after  a  tribute  to  the  "gallant 
dead  who  died  nobly  in  defence  of  their  coun 
try's  freedom,"  "Soldiers,  your  country  will 
thank  you  for  the  heroic  conduct  you  have  dis 
played — conduct  worthy  of  men  engaged  in  a 
cause  so  just  and  sacred,  and  deserving  a  na 
tion's  gratitude  and  praise." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

LEE  RELIEVES  RICHMOND 

T1JAVING  assumed  the  offensive  and  won 
"  signal  success,  Lee  was  not  a  general  to  lose 
the  fruit  of  his  victory,  and  be  forced  back  into  a 
defensive  position  the  perils  of  which  he  well 
knew.  McClellan  was  routed  and  driven  back 
to  the  shelter  of  his  gunboats;  but  he  was  still 
within  little  more  than  a  day's  march  of  Rich 
mond  with  an  army  which,  though  demoralized, 
was,  in  its  position,  still  formidable.  And  he 
could  at  any  time  cross  to  the  South  bank  of 
the  James  and  attack  Richmond  from  that  side, 
and  threaten  the  cutting  off  of  communication 
with  the  South  by  the  chief  line  of  communica 
tion,  the  Richmond  and  Danville  Railway,  a 
move  he  urgently  recommended,  but  as  to  which 
he  was  overruled  by  Halleck  and  the  authorities 
in  Washington.*  McDowell,  too,  a  gallant  soldier 
and  gentleman,  was  still  at  Fredericksburg  and 
hungry  for  a  chance  to  atone  for  his  disaster  at 
Bull  Run,  and  Pope,  with  another  army  greater 

*  Ropes,  II,  p.  238. 

109 


i  io  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

than  Lee  could  send  against  him,  was  advancing 
across  the  Piedmont,  dating  his  letters  from 
"Headquarters  in  the  saddle/'  and  boasting  that 
he  never  saw  anything  but  the  backs  of  his  ene 
mies.*  If  he  should  seize  the  Virginia  Central 
Railroad  he  would  destroy  an  important  avenue 
with  the  southwest,  and  the  one  avenue  of  com 
munication  with  the  Valley  of  Virginia.  If  he 
should  unite  with  McClellan  the  South  would  be 
lost.  The  situation  was  not  a  whit  less  critical 
than  it  had  been  on  the  ist  of  June,  when  Mc 
Clellan  was  advancing  by  approaches  to  shell 
Richmond. 

But  Lee  was  of  all  men  the  man  to  meet  the 
situation.  It  might  well  be  said  of  him  as  Conde 
and  Turenne  said  of  Merci,  that  he  never  lost  a 
favorable  moment,  or  failed  to  anticipate  their 
most  secret  designs,  as  if  he  had  assisted  in  their 
councils. 

Let  those  who  rank  General  Lee  among  the 
defensive  captains  say  whether  he  acted  on  the 
defensive  or  offensive  when,  leaving  only  some 
twenty  thousand  men  to  guard  Richmond,  with 
McClellan  still  at  Harrison's  Landing,  hurry 
ing  troops  now  to  the  South  side  of  the  James, 
now  to  Malvern  Hill,  he,  with  rare  audacity, 

*Pope   gave   his  force  as  43,000.     Taylor's  "General  Lee," 
p.  86. 


LEE   RELIEVES   RICHMOND  in 

turned  on  Pope  advancing  across  the  Pied 
mont,  and  sent  Jackson  to  strike  him  beyond 
the  Rapidan,  and  then,  after  the  first  stroke  at 
Cedar  Mountain,  sweeping  around  in  a  great 
half-circle  through  Thoroughfare  Gap,  struck 
him  at  Groveton  a  staggering  blow,  and  facing 
him  on  the  rolling  plain  of  Manassas,  routed 
and  drove  him  back  to  the  shelter  of  the  forts 
around  Alexandria,  and  with  his  army,  ill-clad 
and  ill-shod,  so  threatened  the  national  capital 
that  McClellan  was  hastily  recalled  from  the 
James  to  its  defence. 

The  manner  of  it  was  this: 

After  a  rest  of  about  ten  days,  spent  in  watching 
McClellan,  who  from  time  to  time  was  moving 
troops  up  to  Malvern  Hill,  or  across  the  James, 
Lee  addressed  his  attention  to  Pope,  sending 
Jackson  with  his  veterans,  his  old  division  of  four 
brigades  and  E  well's  division  of  three  brigades,  to 
Gordonsville,  and  supporting  him  with  A.  P. 
Hill's  division  a  little  later,  while  with  the  remain 
der  of  his  depleted  army  he  covered  Richmond. 
The  effect  of  this  bold  movement  was  what  he 
anticipated.  On  the  gth  of  August,  Jackson  at 
tacked  and  defeated  his  old  opponent,  Banks's 
corps  at  Cedar  Run,  and  then  withdrew  toward 
Gordonsville  to  avoid  the  attack  by  Pope's  entire 
army  until  Lee  should  be  ready  to  reinforce 


ii2  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

him.  On  the  I4th  of  August,  McClellan  received 
orders  from  Washington  to  withdraw  his  army  from 
the  Peninsula  for  the  protection  of  the  National 
Capital.  On  the  I3th  day  of  August,  Lee  having 
matured  his  plans  and  feeling  secure  as  to  Rich 
mond,  ordered  Longstreet  with  Hood  to  Gordons- 
ville,  sending  thither  also  Stuart  and  R.  H. 
Anderson,  and  on  the  iQth  issued  his  order  for 
attack  on  the  2Oth.  He  had  thus  massed  quickly 
some  54,000  men  ready  for  his  stroke,  leaving 
only  two  brigades  for  the  defence  of  Richmond. 
But  President  Davis  wrote  him,  "Confidence 
in  you  overcomes  the  view  which  would  other 
wise  be  taken.*  In  the  interval,  however,  Pope, 
who  occupied  the  line  of  the  Rapidan,  hav 
ing  captured  Stuart's  Adjutant  General  f  with  a 
letter  on  his  person  from  General  Lee  to  General 
Stuart,  setting  forth  his  plans  and  making  mani 
fest  to  Pope  his  position  and  force  and  his  deter 
mination  to  overwhelm  the  army  under  Pope  be 
fore  it  could  be  reinforced  by  the  Army  of  the  Po 
tomac,  withdrew  hastily  behind  the  Rappahannock, 
which  accident  Stuart  offset  partially  a  few  days 
later  when,  in  a  night  attack  at  Catlett's  station, 
he  captured  Pope's  headquarters  and  effects,  in- 

*  Ropes's  "Story  of  the  Civil  War,"  II,   p. 254.     Col.   Wm. 
Allen,  p.  199,  n.  18  W.  R.,  928,  945. 
t  Major  Fitzhugh.     Pope's  report. 


LEE  RELIEVES   RICHMOND          113 

eluding  his  dispatch-book,  containing  impor 
tant  information  throwing  light  on  the  strength, 
movements  and  designs  of  the  enemy  and  dis 
closing  General  Pope's  own  views  against  his 
ability  to  defend  the  line  of  the  Rappahannock.* 
This  "fortunate  accident"  of  the  capture  of 
Lee's  letter  containing  his  plans  saved  Pope  for 
the  time  being,  and  he  hastily  withdrew  behind 
the  Rappahannock,  thereby  preventing  the 
cutting  off  of  his  army  from  his  base  of  supplies 
as  Lee  had  planned.  "This  retreat,"  says  Ropes 
in  his  history  of  the  campaign,  "was  made  not 
a  day  too  soon.  Pope's  army  had  been,  in  truth, 
in  an  extremely  dangerous  position.  .  .  .  All 
this  is  very  plain,  but  apparently  it  was  not  seen 
by  General  Pope  until  the  capture  of  one  of  the 
officers  of  Stuart's  staff  put  him  in  possession  of 
Lee's  orders  to  his  army."  f  "Lee  was  greatly 
disappointed  at  Pope's  escape,"  continues  this 
able  critic,{  and  he  proceeds  to  show  how,  had 
Pope  not  retreated  precipitately,  he  "would 
have  been  attacked  in  flank  and  rear  and  his 
communications  severed  into  the  bargain." 
"Doubtless,"  he  adds,  "he  would  have  made  a 
strenuous  fight,  but  defeat  under  such  circum- 

*  General  Stuart's  report,  cited  in  Taylor's  "  General  Lee." 
t  Ropes's  "Story  of  the  Civil  War,"  pp.  256-257. 
t  Lee  to  Jackson,  July  23,  1862,  W.  R.,  916. 


ii4  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

stances  might  well  have  been  ruin.  From  this 
disaster  Fortune  saved  Pope  through  the  capt 
ure  of  Stuart's  staff  officer."  * 

Even  thus,  Lee  determined  to  attack  Pope 
beyond  the  Rappahannock,  and  Jackson  was 
sent  up  the  stream  to  cross  beyond  him  at  Sul 
phur  Springs  and  turn  his  right.  A  great  rain, 
however,  raised  the  river  suddenly  after  he  had 
sent  a  brigade  or  two  across,  leaving  them  iso 
lated  and  preventing  their  relief  for  several 
days.  This  rain,  in  Ropes's  opinion  saved  Pope, 
who  was  now  strictly  on  the  defensive  and  was 
being  encouraged  by  Halleck  to  "fight  like  the 
devil."  f 

It  was  after  five  days  spent  in  trying  to  reach 
Pope's  right  beyond  the  swollen  Rappahannock, 
that  Lee  put  in  operation  his  famous  flank 
movement,  by  which,  holding  Pope's  front  with 
half  his  force,  he  despatched  Jackson  with  a 
part  of  Stuart's  cavalry  to  circle  quite  around 
Pope's  right  and  crossing  the  Bull  Run  Moun 
tains  at  Thoroughfare  Gap,  strike  his  line  of 
communication  in  his  rear.  Considering  that 
Pope  had  under  him,  on  the  Rappahannock,  an 
army  which,  making  allowance  for  all  losses, 
"numbered  upward  of  70,000,  when  Lee  under- 

*  Ropes's,  II,  pp.  257-258. 

f  Ropes's,  II,  pp.  259-260,  16.    W.  R., 


LEE  RELIEVES   RICHMOND          115 

took  this  novel  and  perilous  operation,"  one 
may  well  agree  with  Ropes  that  "the  dis 
parity  between  this  force  and  that  of  Jack 
son  is  so  enormous  that  it  is  impossible  not  to 
be  amazed  at  the  audacity  of  the  Confederate 
General."  * 

Lee,  however,  was  now  assured  of  the  with 
drawal  of  McClellan's  army  as  a  consequence  of 
his  audacious  strategy  in  threatening  Washing 
ton,  and  having  massed  his  forces  in  the  Piedmont 
with  a  view  to  attacking  Pope  in  his  position 
along  the  Rappahannock,  he  proceeded  to  carry 
out  his  plans,  however  "novel  and  perilous," 
undisturbed  by  any  forebodings.  Sending  Jack 
son  up  the  now  swollen  stream  to  find  a 
crossing-place  well  beyond  Pope's  right,  and 
Longstreet  after  him  to  demonstrate  in  Pope's 
front  and  follow  Jackson  at  the  proper  time,  he 
awaited  confidently  the  result  of  his  audacious 
plan.  Starting  from  Jefferson  and  crossing  the 
river  at  a  point  four  miles  above  Waterloo,  on 
the  morning  of  August  25th,  Jackson  marched 
twenty-five  miles  a  day,  bivouacked  at  Salem, 
and  pushing  forward  with  "his  accustomed 
vigor  and  celerity,"  crossed  the  Bull  Run 
Mountains  at  Thoroughfare  Gap  and  about 
nightfall,  on  the  26th,  while  Pope  thought  he 

*  Ropes's,  II,  pp.  261-262.    Allen,  212-213. 


ii6  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

was  headed  for  the  Valley  of  the  Shenandoah,* 
struck  the  railway  at  Bristow  Station  between 
Pope  and  the  city  he  was  supposed  to  be  cover 
ing.  At  Gainesville,  on  the  day  after  he  started, 
he  was  joined  by  Stuart  with  two  brigades  of  cav 
alry,  flushed  with  the  recent  victory  of  Kelly's 
Ford.  He  despatched  Stuart  that  night  to  capture 
Manassas  Junction  with  its  vast  stores  for 
Pope's  army,  which  was  successfully  accom 
plished,  and  next  morning,  leaving  Ewell  to 
guard  Bristow  Station,  he  proceeded  to  Ma 
nassas,  where  he  was  joined  later  by  Ewell, 
who  had  been  forced  back  from  Bristow  Station 
after  a  sharp  fight,  and  who  brought  the  informa 
tion  that  Pope  had  turned  on  him  with  his  full 
force.  That  morning  Pope  had  issued  orders  to 
abandon  the  line  of  the  Rappahannock.f  This 
was  on  the  night  of  the  2yth,  and  the  morning 
of  the  28th. 

That  same  night  Pope  issued  orders  for  his 
entire  army  to  concentrate  at  or  near  Manassas 
Junction  and  a  manifesto  that  he  would  "bag 
the  whole  crowd."  Jackson,  therefore,  moved 
to  the  westward  of  the  turnpike  and  took  a  po 
sition  near  Groveton,  where  he  could  await 
Longstreet's  arrival  by  way  of  Thoroughfare 

*  18,  W.  R.,  653,  665. 

f  16,  W.  R.,  34,  70.    Ropes's,  II,  p.  266. 


LEE  RELIEVES   RICHMOND          117 

Gap,  or  himself  retire  through  the  Gap  should 
necessity  arise. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  28th,  Jackson,  lying 
near  Groveton,  almost  surrounded  by  Pope's 
army,  learned  that  a  large  force  was  moving 
down  the  turnpike  toward  Centreville,  where 
Pope  had  finally  determined  to  concentrate. 
This  was  King's  division  of  McDowell's  com 
mand.  He  immediately  sprang  upon  them,  and 
the  result  was  one  of  the  most  obstinately  con 
tested  of  the  minor  fields  of  the  war.*  That 
night  the  Federals  withdrew  and  next  day  it  was 
known  that  Pope  "had  taken  a  position  to 
cover  Washington  against  Jackson's  advance." 
Jackson  posted  himself  in  a  defensive  position 
partially  protected  by  the  line  of  an  unfinished 
railway  extending  northeastwardly  from  the 
Warrenton  Turnpike,  and  awaited  Longstreet, 
(with  whom  was  Lee  himself),  who,  having  been 
relieved  by  R.  H.  Anderson,  had  crossed  the 
river  at  Hinson's  Mill,  the  same  point  where 
Jackson  had  crossed  several  days  before,  and 
was  pushing  forward  for  Thoroughfare  Gap, 
which  he  reached  on  the  afternoon  of  the  28th 
and,  finding  it  in  possession  of  the  enemy,  was 
forced  to  carry  by  assault.  As  Longstreet's  com- 

*  Allen,  231,  Henderson's  "Stonewall  Jackson,"  II,  179,  235. 
Ropes's,  II,  272. 


n8  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

mand  emerged  from  the  gap  next  morning  (2Qth) 
the  sound  of  the  guns  toward  Manassas  told  that 
the  battle  was  on.  Pushing  forward  by  Gaines 
ville,  Longstreet  moved  to  Jackson's  right,  where 
Sigel  was  striving  to  hold  Jackson  in  check  until 
Pope  could  concentrate  his  full  force  to  destroy 
him.  Other  corps  were  soon  put  in  and  for 
hours  the  battle  raged  "with  incessant  fury  and 
varying  success,  but  Jackson  stubbornly  held 
his  ground,  though  the  fighting  was  often  hand 
to  hand  and  the  bayonet  was  in  constant  requi 
sition."  *  In  all  this  fighting  Longstreet  took 
little  part,  though  Lee  himself  three  times  ex 
pressed  his  wish  that  he  should  attack  and  thus 
relieve  the  hard-pressed  Jackson.  As  General 
Lee  did  not  positively  order  him  in,  he  deter 
mined  to  wait  and  attack  next  day  should  a 
weak  place  be  found  in  the  enemy's  lines,  and 
he  left  Jackson  and  Hill  to  hold  their  position 
alone  except  for  the  aid  afforded  them  by  a  recon 
naissance  in  force  by  three  gallant  brigades — 
Hood's  and  Evans's  with  Wilcox  in  support.  The 
command  of  Fitz  John  Porter  numbering  some 
10,000  men,  lay  near  Gainesville,  deployed  to 
engage  any  force  in  their  front  and  Longstreet 
thought  the  enemy  was  marching  on  him  from 
the  rear  and  failed  to  press  in  to  Jackson's  aid. 

*  Taylor's  "  General  Lee,"  p.  106. 


LEE  RELIEVES   RICHMOND          119 

Thus  Porter  fully  performed  his  task.*  Fort 
unately  for  Lee,  he  knew  that  Pope  thought  he 
was  in  a  perilous  position  and  was  anxious  only 
to  escape,  and  he  disposed  his  troops  to  take 
advantage  of  this  erroneous  view,  which  he  did 
completely.  Pope,  who  claimed  to  have  won 
the  battle  of  the  evening  before,  was  obsessed 
with  the  idea  that  Jackson  was  in  full  retreat 
and  he  massed  his  army  to  destroy  or  "bag" 
him,  giving  McDowell  the  "general  charge  of 
the  pursuit."  It  was  afternoon  of  the  following 
day  (the  3Oth)  before  Pope's  gallant  lines  ad 
vanced  to  the  attack  along  the  Warrenton  Pike, 
with  Porter  leading  against  Jackson's  front  in 
such  force  that  Jackson  called  on  Lee  for  rein 
forcements.  Lee  immediately  ordered  General 
Longstreet  in.  The  fighting  was  from  this  time 
furious.  Line  after  line  came  on  under  the 
leaden  sleet  with  a  courage  which  aroused  the 
admiration  of  their  antagonists  and  called  for 
the  utmost  exertion  to  repel  them.  But  mortal 
flesh  could  not  stand  against  the  deadly  rain  of 
shot  and  shell  poured  down  on  the  brigades 
"piling  up  against  Jackson's  right,  centre  and 
left"  f  and  they  melted  away  in  the  fiery  fur 
nace.  "Their  repeated  efforts  to  rally  were,"  as 

*  Ropes's,  II,  281. 

t  See  Report:  Taylor's  "  General  Lee,"  pp.  112-113. 


izo  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

Lee  reported,  "unavailing,  and  Jackson's  troops, 
being  thus  relieved  from  the  pressure  of  over 
whelming  numbers,  began  to  press  steadily  for 
ward,  driving  the  enemy  before  them."  As  they 
retreated  in  confusion,  "Longstreet  anticipat 
ing  the  order  for  a  general  advance,  now  threw 
his  whole  command  against  the  Federal  centre 
and  left,  and  the  whole  line  swept  steadily  on, 
driving  the  enemy  with  great  carnage  from  each 
successive  position." 

Thus  by  Lee's  "novel  and  perilous  move 
ment,  "carried  out  to  complete  success,  was  won 
the  great  battle  of  Second  Manassas,  which 
completed  the  campaign  by  which  he  relieved 
Richmond. 

During  the  night  Pope  withdrew  to  the  north 
side  of  Bull  Run  and  occupied  a  strong  position 
on  the  heights  about  Centreville.  But  by  this 
time  the  hunter  had  become  the  hunted.  Lee, 
driving  for  the  fruits  of  his  dearly  won  victory, 
ordered  Jackson  to  push  forward  around  Pope's 
right,  while  Longstreet  engaged  him  in  front, 
and  Pope,  now  thoroughly  demoralized,  retired 
first  on  Fairfax  Court  House  and  after  a  sharp 
engagement  with  Jackson  at  Chantilly,  to  the 
secure  shelter  of  the  formidable  forts  at  Alex 
andria.  Thus,  Lee,  with  50,000  men  had  routed 
and  drawn  Pope  from  his  menacing  position 


LEE   RELIEVES   RICHMOND          121 

with  62,000,  or  as  Ropes  states  70,000  men,  as  gal 
lant  as  any  soldiers  in  the  world,  captured  more 
than  9,000  prisoners;  thirty  pieces  of  artillery, 
upward  of  20,000  stand  of  small  arms,  numerous 
colors,  and  a  large  amount  of  stores.* 

It  was  a  proof  of  Pope's  utter  demoralization 
that  he  telegraphed  that  unless  something  were 
"  done  to  restore  the  tone  of  his  army,  it  would 
melt  away,"  and  that  he  attacked,  as  the  cause 
of  his  disaster,  the  gallant  Fitz  John  Porter, 
with  a  vehemence  which  might  better  have  been 
employed  on  the  field  of  Manassas,  and  placed 
on  this  fine  soldier  and  honorable  gentleman 
a  stigma  which  it  took  a  generation  to  extirpate. 

Such  was  the  fruit  of  Lee's  bold  generalship, 
and  he  was  now  to  give  a  yet  further  proof  of  his 
audacity  and  skill. 

*  Lee's  report  cited  in  Taylor's  "  General  Lee,"  p.  117.  The 
Federal  losses  were  1,738  killed,  and  10,135  wounded.  Con 
federate  losses,  1,090  killed,  and  6,154  wounded.  Pope  had  over 
70,000  men.  See  Ropes's,  cited  ante. 


CHAPTER  IX 

LEE'S   AUDACITY— ANTIETAM   AND 
CHANCELLORSVILLE 

EE'S  move  against  Pope  was  not  merely  the 
boldest,  and  possibly  the  most  masterly  piece 
of  strategy  in  the  whole  war;  it  was,  as  has  been 
well  said,  "one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  daring 
movements  in  the  history  of  wars."  But  he  did 
not  pause  to  enjoy  his  victory.  His  army  was 
well-nigh  shoeless,  and  the  South  was  unable  to 
help  him.  Need  became  the  handmaid  of  strat 
egy.  He  was  nearer  to  Washington  than  to 
Richmond.  Maryland  lay  the  other  side  of 
Pope's  army.  He  would  place  that  army  and 
the  other  armies  also  between  him  and  Rich 
mond.  He  determined  to  march  around  Pope's 
army  and  invade  Maryland  to  subsist  his  army 
and  relieve  Virginia,  and  to  give  Maryland  the 
power  to  join  the  Southern  Confederacy,  which 
it  was  believed  she  longed  to  do.  Again  circling 
around  to  the  westward,  he  dispatched  Jackson 
to  capture  Harper's  Ferry  and  pushed  on  into 
Maryland.  It  had  been  hoped  that  Maryland 


LEE'S   AUDACITY  123 

would  rise  and  declare  for  the  South.  Mary 
land  did  not  respond.  This,  however,  was  not 
the  cause  of  his  failure.  That  he  did  not  reap 
the  full  fruits  of  this  wonderful  generalship  was 
due  to  one  of  those  strange  events,  which,  so 
insignificant  in  itself,  yet  under  Him  who, 

"  Views  with  equal  eye  as  God  of  All, 
A  hero  perish,  or  a  sparrow  fall," 

is  fateful  to  decide  the  issues  of  nations.  As  the 
capture  of  his  letter  and  plans  had  given  Pope 
warning  and  led  him  to  retire  his  army  behind 
the  Rappahannock,  so  now  an  even  stranger 
fate  befell  him.  A  copy  of  his  dispatch  giving 
his  entire  plan,  was  picked  up  on  the  site  of  a 
camp  formerly  occupied  by  D.  H.  Hill,  wrapped 
about  a  handful  of  cigars,  and  promptly  reached 
McClellan,  thus  betraying  to  him  a  plan  which 
but  for  this  strange  accident,  might  have  re 
sulted  in  the  complete  overthrow  of  his  army, 
and  even  in  the  capture  of  the  National  capital, 
and  enabling  him  with  his  vast  resources,  to 
frustrate  it.  A  man's  carelessness  usually  reacts 
mainly  upon  himself,  but  few  incidents  in  the 
history  of  the  world  have  ever  been  fraught  with 
such  fateful  consequences  as  that  act  of  the  un 
known  staff-officer  or  courier,  who  chose  Lee's 
plan  of  battle  as  a  wrapping  for  his  tobacco. 


124  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

"  If  we  always  had  exact  information  of  our 
enemy's  dispositions,"  said  Frederick,  "we 
should  beat  him  every  time."  This  exact  in 
formation  this  strange  mishap  gave  Lee's  ad 
versary  on  the  eve  of  Antietam.  Even  so,  Lee, 
who  fought  the  battle  with  only  35,000  men, 
came  off  with  more  glory  than  his  antagonist, 
who  had  87,000,*  as  gallant  men,  moreover,  as 
ever  braved  death,  and  the  latter  was  a  little 
later  removed  by  his  Government  as  a  failure, 
while  Lee  stood  higher  than  ever  in  the  affection 
and  esteem  of  the  South. 

Lee's  order  was  discovered  and  delivered  to 
McClellan  on  the  I3th,  and  McClellan  at  once 
set  himself  to  the  task  of  meeting  the  situation 
by  relieving  Harper's  Ferry  on  the  one  hand 
and  crushing  Lee's  army  in  detail  among  the 
passes  of  the  Maryland  Spurs.  Lee,  however, 
had,  through  the  good  offices  of  a  friendly  citi 
zen  who  had  been  present  at  or  had  learned  of 
the  delivery  of  his  dispatch  to  McClellan,  soon 
become  aware  of  the  misfortune  that  had  be 
fallen  him,  and  while  McClellan  was  preparing 
to  destroy  him,  he  was  taking  prompt  measures 
to  repair  the  damage  as  fully  as  possible.  He 

*  General  Lee  told  Fitz  Lee  that  he  fought  the  battle  of  Sharps- 
burg  with  35,000  troops.  And  McClellan  reported  that  he  him 
self  had  87,164  troops.— (Fitzhugh  Lee's  "Life  of  Lee,"  p.  209.) 
Cf.  also  Ropes's,  "Story  of  the  Civil  War,"  II,  pp.  376-377. 


LEE'S  AUDACITY  125 

instantly  recalled  Longstreet  from  Hagerstown, 
ordered  Hill  back  to  Turner's  Gap  and  Stuart 
to  Crampton  Gap,  to  defend  it  against  McClel- 
lan's  expected  advance,  a  disposition  which  de 
layed  the  enemy  until  the  evening  of  the  I4th, 
when,  after  fierce  fighting,  they  carried  both 
positions,  forcing  McLaws  back  from  Cramp- 
ton  Gap  to  Pleasant  Valley,  across  which,  how 
ever,  he  established  "a  formidable  line  of  de 
fence."  Lee  was  thus  forced  either  to  retreat 
across  the  Potomac,  or  to  fight  where  he  had 
not  contemplated  fighting.  He  seems  to  have 
wavered  momentarily  which  course  to  adopt, 
and  well  he  might  waver.  It  was  a  perilous  situa 
tion.  He  had  with  him,  when  the  gaps  were 
stormed  on  the  afternoon  of  the  I4th,  only  about 
19,000  men  in  all,*  "while  the  main  army  of 
McClellan  was  close  upon  him."  He  issued  an 
order  that  night  (8  p.  M.)  to  McLaws  to  cross  the 
Potomac  below  Shepherdstown,  leaving  the  ford 
at  Shepherdstown  for  the  main  army  to  take. 
"  But  in  less  than  two  hours  Lee  had  changed  his 
mind, — why  we  are  not  informed — "  says 
Ropes,  "and  had  determined  to  await  battle 
north  of  the  Potomac."  By  midnight  he  had 
planned  his  battle;  he  had  ordered  the  cavalry 
to  pilot  McLaws  over  the  mountains  and  across 

*  Ropes's  "Story  of  the  Civil  War,"  II,  p.  347. 


126  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

country  to  Sharpsburg,  where  he  had  deter 
mined  to  make  his  stand  on  the  east  of  Antie- 
tam  creek.  He  had  also  taken  measures  to 
bring  up  his  other  troops  as  rapidly  as  possible. 
"This  decision,"  says  Ropes,  "to  stand  and 
fight  at  Sharpsburg,  which  General  Lee  took 
on  the  evening  of  the  I4th  of  September — just 
after  his  troops  had  been  driven  from  the  South 
Mountain  passes — is  beyond  controversy  one  of 
the  boldest  and  most  hazardous  decisions  in  his 
whole  military  career.  It  is,  in  truth,  so  bold 
and  hazardous  that  one  is  bewildered  that  he 
could  even  have  thought  seriously  of  mak 
ing  it."* 

Lee's  decision  was,  indeed,  so  bold  and  hazard 
ous  that  the  thoughtful  Ropes  suggests  that  he 
must  have  been  influenced  by  fear  of  loss  of  his 
military  prestige.  "General  Lee,  however,"  he 
admits,  "thought  there  was  a  fair  chance  for 
him  to  win  a  victory  over  McClellan,"  f  and 
he  adds  that  "naturally  he  did  not  consider 
them  (McClellan's  troops)  as  good  as  his  own, 
and  it  is  without  doubt  that  they  did  not  con 
stitute  so  good  an  army  as  that  which  he  com 
manded." 

We  know,   however,   that    while   Longstreet 

*  Ropes's,  "  Story  of  the  Civil  War,"  II,  p.  349. 
f  Ropes's,  "Story  of  the  Civil  War,"  p.  351-352. 


LEE'S   AUDACITY  127 

(as  usual)  suggested  the  obstacles  and  dangers 
of  the  situation,  Jackson  approved  the  action  of 
Lee  both  before  and  after  the  battle.* 

On  the  night  of  the  I4th,  General  Lee  with 
drew  his  army  across  Antietam  creek  and  as 
sumed  a  position  which  he  thought  stronger, 
along  a  range  of  hills  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Hagerstown  turnpike  with  his  right  resting  on 
Antietam  creek  and  his  left  refused  across  the 
turnpike  some  three  miles  to  the  northward, 
this  pike  being  a  line  of  communication  be 
tween  the  two  wings  by  which  he  could  sup 
port  either  when  hard  pressed.  Thus,  he  waited 
for  Jackson,  who,  on  the  same  day,  captured 
Harper's  Ferry  with  its  garrison,  munitions 
and  stores,  and  leaving  A.  P.  Hill  in  charge, 
set  out  in  haste  to  reinforce  Lee,  who  was 
confronting  McClellan's  great  army  of  75,000 
men  with  only  19,000  men  and  about  125 
guns.f 

McClellan's  army  with  whom  Lee's  cavalry 
had  been  effectively  skirmishing,  appeared  in 
his  front  in  the  early  afternoon,  and  Ropes  de 
clares,  that  it  was  an  "unique  opportunity"  that 
was  offered  the  Union  general.  McClellan, 
however,  still  believed  that  Lee  had  at  least 

*  Lee's  Letter  to  Mrs.  Jackson,  January  15,  1866. 
t  Ropes's,  II,  pp.  354-355- 


i28  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

100,000  men  under  his  command,  and  he  knew 
how  ably  that  army,  whatever  its  numbers,  was 
commanded.  Moreover,  he  believed  that  his 
own  army  was  still  not  fully  recovered  from  the 
demoralization  it  had  suffered  from  under  Pope. 
He  was,  therefore,  inclined  to  be  cautious.  Ac 
cordingly,  it  was  not  until  next  day  that  he 
made  any  demonstrations  against  Lee.  Mean 
time,  on  the  morning  of  the  i6th,  Jackson  ar 
rived  with  all  of  his  army  who  could  march, 
between  8,000  and  9,000  men  in  all,  the  re 
mainder  of  them,  barefooted  and  lame,  being 
left  behind.  But  these,  alike  with  those  who 
could  march,  were  flushed  with  victory.  Lee's 
troops  were  disposed  with  Longstreet  command 
ing  his  right  and  Jackson  his  left,  with  Hood 
in  support,  while  McClellan,  in  disposing  his 
forces  had  placed  Hooker  on  his  extreme  right 
with  the  first  corps,  Sumner  next  on  his  right, 
with  two  corps,  the  2d  and  I2th,  then  Porter 
with  the  5th  corps,  occupying  his  centre  and 
Burnside  on  the  left  with  the  Qth  corps,  good 
troops  and  bravely  led.  That  afternoon,  in 
pursuance  of  McClellan's  plan,  Hooker  was  or 
dered  to  cross  the  Antietam  and  assault  Lee's 
left,  and  crossing  the  stream  his  corps  assaulted 
the  portion  of  the  line  led  by  Hood,  but  was 
"gallantly  repulsed."  The  only  effect  of  this 


LEE'S  AUDACITY  129 

assault  is  declared  by  Ropes  to  have  been  the 
disclosure  of  McClellan's  plans.* 

The  real  battle  of  Sharpsburg,  however,  was 
fought  on  the  iyth,  and  was  the  bloodiest  battle 
of  the  war,  a  battle  in  which  intrepid  courage 
marked  both  sides,  shining  alike  in  the  furious 
charges  of  the  men  who  assaulted  Lee's  lines 
and  the  undaunted  constancy  of  the  men  who 
defended  them.  It  began  early  in  the  morning 
with  an  attack  by  Hooker's  corps,  the  first 
shock  falling  on  Ewell's  division  in  Jackson's 
wing,  and  within  the  bloody  hour  of  the  first 
onslaught,  General  J.  R.  Jones,  commanding 
Jackson's  old  division,  was  borne  from  the  field 
to  be  followed  immediately  by  Starke,  who  suc 
ceeded  him  in  command,  mortally  wounded. 
"Colonel  Douglass,  commanding  Lawton's  bri 
gade,  was  killed.  General  Lawton,  command 
ing  division  and  Colonel  Walker,  commanding 
brigade,  were  severely  wounded.  More  than 
half  of  the  brigades  of  Lawton  and  Hays  were 
either  killed  or  wounded,  and  more  than  a  third 
of  Trimble's,  and  all  of  the  regimental  command 
ers  in  those  brigades,  except  two,  were  killed  or 
wounded. f  In  this  extremity,  Hood's  brigades 
and  three  of  D.  H.  Hill's  brigades  were  rushed 

*  Ropes's,  II,  pp.  358-359. 

t  Ropes's,  II,  p.  359,  citing  Jackson's  Report,  27  W.  R.,  956. 


130  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

to  the  front  in  support  of  the  exhausted  divisions 
of  Jones  and  Lawton,  and  after  an  hour  of  furi 
ous  fighting,  Hooker's  force,  led  by  himself  with 
Doubleday,  Ricketts  and  Meade,  gallant  com 
manders  of  gallant  divisions,  were  beaten  off, 
with  Hooker  himself  wounded  and  over  2,500 
men  dead  or  wounded.  It  was  a  terrific  opening 
of  a  terrific  day.  As  they  retired,  Mansfield's 
corps  came  in  on  their  left,  and  in  the  furious 
onslaught  on  the  already  shattered  brigades  of 
D.  H.  Hill  and  Hood,  bore  them  back  across  the 
turnpike,  "with  a  loss  of  some  1,700  men  out 
of  the  7,000  brought  into  action,  and  an  even 
heavier  loss  on  the  Confederate  side.  But  be 
yond  the  turnpike  the  remnants  of  Jones's 
division  under  Grigsby,  reinforced  by  Early, 
who  had  succeeded  the  wounded  Lawton  in 
command  of  Ewell's  division,  "clung  obsti 
nately"  to  their  ground.*  A  brief  lull  took 
place,  broken  by  the  advance  of  Sumner,  with 
two  divisions  pushing  hotly  across  the  turnpike, 
his  veteran  troops  cheering  and  being  cheered, 
confident  of  sweeping  everything  before  them. 
Beyond  the  turnpike,  however,  they  came  on  the 
remnants  of  Jackson's  divisions,  lying  behind 
a  rocky  ledge,  who  gave  them  a  staggering  re 
ception,  and  at  this  moment  the  divisions  of 

*  Ropes's,  II,  pp.  361-362. 


LEE'S   AUDACITY  131 

McLaws  and  Walker,  who,  sent  by  Lee  from  his 
right,  had  just  come  up  and  deployed  across 
Sumner's  and  Sedgwick's  flank,  poured  forth 
on  them  a  fire  so  "terrible  and  sustained"  that, 
after  a  futile  effort  to  change  front,  the  federals 
broke  and  fell  back  in  confusion  under  the  shel 
ter  of  their  artillery,  with  a  loss  of  over  2,200, 
officers  and  men,  all  within  a  few  minutes.  This 
act  of  Lee  in  reinforcing  his  left  wing  from  his 
right  at  this  critical  juncture,  Ropes  praises  as 
exhibiting  remarkable  "skill  and  resolution." 
An  effort  made  to  press  Sedgwick's  defeated 
troops,  who  reformed  behind  their  artillery,  was 
repulsed  by  the  artillery,  but  not  until  39 \  per 
cent,  of  McLaw's  division  had  fallen.  A  little 
later  the  remnants  of  Jones's  and  Lawton's 
troops  drove  the  enemy  from  the  ground  they 
had  secured  in  the  second  assault;  but  by  this 
time  all  the  Confederate  troops  in  that  part  of 
the  field  had  sustained  terrific  losses.  "They 
had,  indeed,"  says  Ropes,  "with  the  utmost 
bravery,  with  inflexible  resolution  and  at  a  ter 
rible  sacrifice  of  life,  repelled  the  third  attack 
on  the  left  flank  of  the  Confederate  army."* 
Meantime,  Sumner's  other  division,  under 
French,  which  was  put  in  to  reinforce  Sedg- 
wick,  had  by  bearing  southward,  been  engaged 

*  Ropes's,  II,  p.  367. 


132  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

in  a  bloody  and  desperate  conflict  on  Lee's 
left  centre,  with  the  divisions  of  D.  H.  Hill  and 
R.  H.  Anderson,  the  latter  of  whom,  on  his  way 
to  reinforce  the  left  wing,  finding  Hill's  already 
decimated  brigades  hard  pressed,  had  turned 
aside  to  their  succor.  They  were  soon  in  a  des 
perate  struggle  with  over  10,000  fresh  troops, 
under  French  and  Richardson.  The  combat 
which  followed,  "was,"  says  Ropes,  "beyond 
a  question  one  of  the  most  sanguinary  and  des 
perate  in  the  whole  war."  *  For  an  hour  or 
more  the  conflict  raged  over  the  famous  sunken 
road  before  the  Federals  secured  possession  of 
it,  and  "Bloody  Lane"  is  the  name  to-day  by 
which  is  known  this  deadly  roadway  whose  pos 
session  that  day  cost  over  6,000  men.  "At  this 
moment,"  says  the  same  high  authority  whose 
account  we  are  following,  "fortune  favored 
McClellan.  The  two  divisions  of  Franklin's 
corps  under  W.  F.  Smith  and  Slocum,  had 
arrived  on  this  part  of  the  field."  They  num 
bered  from  10,000  to  12,000  men,  fresh  and  in 
good  condition. 

Franklin  wished  to  put  them  in,  but  Sumner, 
who  had  tested  the  temper  of  the  men  who  held 
Lee's  line,  was  unwilling  to  risk  another  attack 
and  "McClellan,  undoubtedly  much  influenced 

*  Ropes's,  II,  p.  368. 


LEE'S   AUDACITY  133 

by  Sumner,  would  not  permit  any  attack." 
The  battle  was  now  raging  along  the  front  of 
Lee's  right,  protected  by  the  Antietam.  About 
i  P.  M.  the  bridge  was  carried,  and  the  stream 
was  crossed  both  above  and  below,  but  not  until 
four  assaults  had  been  repelled  by  Tombs's  bri 
gade  of  D.  R.  Jones's  division,  assisted  by  the 
well  posted  artillery.  About  three  o'clock  Cox 
made  his  assault  on  the  heights  where  lay 
Lee's  right,  and  achieved  "a  brilliant  success," 
breaking  the  infantry  line  and  capturing  Mc- 
Intosh's  battery;  and  says  Ropes,  "A  complete 
victory  seemed  within  sight.  But  this  was  not 
to  be."  Just  at  the  crucial  moment  the  Con 
federate  "light  division" — five  brigades  under 
A.  P.  Hill,  pushing  from  Harper's  Ferry,  for  the 
sound  of  the  guns  "climbed  the  heights  south  of 
the  town,"  and  "without  an  instant's  hesitation 
they  rushed  to  the  rescue  of  their  comrades," 
and  the  end  was  not  long  in  coming.  The  lines 
were  recaptured  along  with  Mclntosh's  battery, 
and  the  Federal  troops,  with  victory  apparently 
almost  in  their  grasp  were  driven  back  with  ter 
rific  slaughter.  "The  failure  to  put  Franklin 
in,"  was,  in  the  opinion  of  Ropes,  a  capital 
error.  He  insists  that  McClellan  should  have 
won  the  battle;  for  unlike  those  who  argue 
only  from  subsequent  events,  this  thoughtful 


I34  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

student  of  war  admits  that  while  "Lee's  inva 
sion  had  terminated  in  failure,"  he  and  his 
army  had  unquestionably  won  glory,  even  though 
he  claims  that  the  prestige  of  victory  rested  later 
with  McClellan.*  Thus  ended  what  is  said  to 
have  been  the  bloodiest  day  of  the  war,  and  one 
of  the  bloodiest  battles  ever  fought.  Each  side 
lost  about  one-quarter  of  the  troops  engaged, 
and  Lee  had,  with  less  than  half  the  force  his 
enemy  had,  though  compelled  to  fight  in  a  place 
where  he  had  not  intended  to  fight,  beaten  his 
brave  enemy  off  with  such  slaughter  that  though 
he  offered  him  battle  next  day,  he  was  not  again 
attacked,  and  the  following  morning  he  retired 
across  the  Potomac  unmolested.  Of  "his  in 
trepidity"  in  standing  to  fight  an  army  of  70,000 
with  less  than  40,000  men,  not  all  of  whom  in 
fact  were  with  him  at  the  commencement  of  the 
action,  Ropes  has  nothing  but  praise.  "Nor 
could  any  troops,"  he  adds,  "have  more  fully 
justified  the  reliance  their  leader  placed  in  them 
than  the  troops  of  the  army  of  Northern  Vir 
ginia."  f  "Lee,  in  fact,  intended  to  try  his  men 
again."  Both  Longstreet  and  Jackson  urged 
recrossing  the  Potomac  that  night;  but  he  re 
fused.  "Gentlemen,"  he  said,  when  his  gen- 

*  Ropes's,  "Story  of  the  Civil  War,"  II,  p.  379. 
t  Ropes's,  II,  p.  377. 


LEE'S  AUDACITY  135 

erals  had  advised  retreat,  "I  shall  remain 
where  I  am.  If  McClellan  offers  me  a  chance, 
I  shall  fight  him  again."  All  the  next  day  he 
watched  for  this  chance  as  the  eagle  watches 
from  his  crag  for  the  prey;  but  it  did  not  come 
and  he  recrossed  into  Virginia. 

Of  the  battle  of  Antietam  the  view  usually 
expressed  is  one  largely  influenced  by  events 
which  succeeded  it  after  a  long  interval.  The 
view  at  the  time,  based  on  the  actual  battle  and 
its  immediate  consequences  was  widely  differ 
ent.  Horace  Greeley's  paper  representing  the 
great  constituency  which  at  that  time  opposed 
Lincoln's  methods,  voiced  their  opinion.  "He 
leaves  us,"  he  declared,  "the  debris  of  his  late 
camp,  two  disabled  pieces  of  artillery,  a  few 
hundred  of  his  stragglers;  perhaps  two  thou 
sand  of  his  wounded  and  as  many  more  of  his 
unburied  dead.  Not  a  sound  field-piece,  cais 
son,  ambulance  or  wagon;  not  a  tent,  box  of 
stores  or  a  pound  of  ammunition.  He  takes 
with  him  the  supplies  gathered  in  Maryland  and 
the  rich  spoils  of  Harper's  Ferry."  * 

What  those  rich  spoils  were  Lee  himself  men 
tions  in  the  general  order  issued  to  his  army  two 
weeks  after  it  had  "on  the  field  of  Sharpsburg 
with  less  than  one-third  of  his  [the  enemy's] 

*  New  York  Tribune.    Quoted  from  Jones's  "Lee,"  p.  195. 


136  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

numbers  .  .  .  resisted  from  daylight  until  dark 
the  whole  army  of  the  enemy  and  repulsed 
every  attack  along  his  entire  front  of  more  than 
four  miles  in  extent." 

In  this  order  the  Commanding  General  re 
counts  to  his  army  its  achievements,  in  reviewing 
which  he  declares  he  "cannot  withhold  the  expres 
sion  of  his  admiration  of  the  indomitable  courage 
it  has  displayed  in  battle,  and  its  cheerful  endur 
ance  of  privation  and  hardship  on  the  march." 

"Since  your  great  victories  around  Rich 
mond,"  he  declares,  "you  have  defeated  the 
enemy  at  Cedar  Mountain,  expelled  him  from 
the  Rappahannock,  and  after  a  conflict  of  three 
days,  utterly  repulsed  him  on  the  plain  of  Ma- 
nassas,  and  forced  him  to  take  shelter  within  the 
fortifications  around  his  capital.  Without  halt 
ing  for  repose,  you  crossed  the  Potomac,  stormed 
the  heights  of  Harper's  Ferry,  made  prisoners 
of  more  than  11,600  men  and  captured  upward 
of  seventy  pieces  of  artillery,  all  of  their  small 
arms  and  other  munitions  of  war.  While  one 
corps  of  the  army  was  thus  engaged,  another 
ensured  its  success  by  arresting  at  Boonsboro 
the  combined  armies  of  the  enemy,  advancing 
under  their  favorite  general  to  the  relief  of  their 
beleaguered  comrades. 

*  General  Orders,  No.  116. 


LEE'S  AUDACITY  137 

"On  the  field  of  Sharpsburg,  with  less  than 
one-third  of  his  numbers,  you  resisted  from  day 
light  till  dark  the  whole  army  of  the  enemy, 
and  repulsed  every  attack  along  his  entire  front 
of  more  than  four  miles  in  extent. 

"The  whole  of  the  following  day  you  stood  pre 
pared  to  resume  the  conflict  on  the  same  ground, 
and  retired  next  morning  without  molestation 
across  the  Potomac. 

"Two  attempts  subsequently  made  by  the  en 
emy  to  follow  you  across  the  river  have  resulted 
in  his  complete  discomfiture  and  his  being 
driven  back  with  loss." 

Such  was  the  view  that  the  Commanding 
General,  Lee,  himself,  took  of  his  campaign  two 
weeks  after  the  battle  of  Antietam,  and  it  is  no 
wonder  that  he  should  have  added,  "Achieve 
ments  such  as  these  demanded  much  valor  and 
patriotism.  History  records  few  examples  of 
greater  fortitude  and  endurance  than  this  army 
has  exhibited,"  or  that  he  should,  as  he  reports, 
have  "been  commissioned  by  the  President  to 
thank  the  army,  in  the  name  of  the  Confederate 
States  for  the  undying  fame  they  had  won  for 
their  arms." 

In  truth,  whatever  long  subsequent  events 
may  have  developed  as  to  the  consequences  of 
the  attack  at  Sharpsburg  and  Lee's  retirement 


138  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

across  the  Potomac  afterward,  to  the  student  of 
war,  now,  as  then,  it  must  appear  that  the  hon 
ors  of  that  bloodiest  battle  of  the  war  were  with 
Lee  and  remain  with  him  to-day.  That  Mc- 
Clellan  with  the  complete  disposition  of  Lee's 
forces  in  his  hand,  with  an  army  of  87,000  men, 
as  brave  as  ever  died  for  glory  and  as  gallantly 
officered,  should  not  have  destroyed  Lee  with 
but  35,000  on  the  field,  and  that  Lee,  with  but 
that  number  up,  while  the  rest  shoeless  and 
lame,  were  limping  far  behind,  yet  trying  to  get 
up,  should  with  his  back  to  the  river,  have  not 
only  survived  that  furious  day,  repulsing  every 
attack  along  that  bloody  four  miles  front,  but 
should  have  stood  his  ground  to  offer  battle 
again  next  day  and  then  have  retired  across 
the  river  unmolested,  is  proof  beyond  all 
doubt.* 

"Why  do  you  not  move  that  line  of  battle  to 
make  it  conform  to  your  own?"  asked  Hunter 
McGuire  of  Grigsby,  gazing  at  a  long  line  of 
men  lying  quietly  in  ranks  in  a  field  at  some 
little  distance. 

"Those  men  are  all  dead,"  was  the  reply, 
"they  are  Georgia  soldiers."  f 

*  The  Union  losses  were  12,400;    Confederate,  8,000. 
f  Address  on   Stonewall   Jackson,   by   Dr.   Hunter  McGuire, 
"The  Confederate  Cause,"  p.  204. 


LEE'S   AUDACITY  139 

That  night  20,000  men,  dead  or  wounded, 
lay  on  the  field  of  Sharpsburg. 

I  have  thought  well  to  discuss  somewhat  at 
length  this  great  battle  fought  by  Lee  on  North 
ern,  soil,  because  it  seems  to  illustrate  peculiarly 
those  qualities  which,  in  combination,  made  him 
the  great  captain  he  was,  and  absolutely  refutes 
the  foolish  if  not  malevolent  charge  that  he  was 
only  a  defensive  general,  and  remarkable  only 
when  behind  breastworks.  It  exhibits  absolutely 
his  grasp  of  the  most  difficult  and  unexpected  sit 
uation;  his  unequalled  audacity;  his  intrepidity; 
his  resourcefulness;  his  incomparable  resolu 
tion  and  his  skill  in  handling  men  alike  in  de 
tached  sections  and  on  the  field  of  battle.  Pos 
sibly  no  other  general  on  either  side  would  have 
had  the  boldness  to  risk  the  stand  Lee  made  in 
the  angle  of  the  Antietam,  with  the  Potomac  at 
his  back;  certainly  no  other  general  save  Grant 
would  have  stood  his  ground  after  the  battle, 
and  have  saved  the  morale  of  his  army,  and  as 
to  Grant  it  is  merely  conjecture;  for  he  fought 
no  battle  south  of  the  Rapidan  in  which  he  did 
not  largely  outnumber  his  antagonist,  and  vastly 
excel  him  in  equipment. 

It  is  true,  as  Ropes  states,  that  McClellan 
followed  Lee  across  the  Potomac,  but  his  two 
immediate  attempts  were  promptly  repelled 


HO  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

and  his  troops  driven  back,  and  it  was  not  until 
more  than  a  month  later,  when  Lee  lay  about 
Winchester,  that  McClellan  made  good  a  foot 
ing  in  Virginia.  During  this  time  Stuart  had 
again  crossed  over  into  Maryland,  and  made  a 
complete  circuit  of  McClellan's  army. 

In  the  early  days  of  November  McClellan 
advanced  on  Warrenton,  and  Lee,  in  anticipa 
tion,  moved  down  to  the  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge 
and  occupied  Culpeper  and  the  region  south  of 
the  Rappahannock,  and  after  a  tart  correspond 
ence  between  McClellan  and  the  authorities  in 
Washington  over  McClellan's  failure  to  destroy 
Lee's  army,  McClellan  was  relieved  of  his  com 
mand,  and  Burnside  appointed  in  his  place,  the 
order  issuing  on  the  6th  of  November.  Thus, 
the  North  lost  the  services  of  the  general  whom 
General  Lee  considered  the  best  commander 
opposed  to  him  during  the  war.  That  he  was 
not  Lee's  equal  either  as  a  strategist,  a  tactician 
or  a  fighter,  was  clearly  manifest  then  as  it  is 
now;  but  he  was  a  great  organizer;  conducted 
war  on  high  principles;  restored  the  morale  of  a 
shattered  army  and  defeated  the  object  of 
Lee's  first  invasion  of  Maryland.  And  as  has 
been  already  quoted,  it  was  well  said  that 
"without  McClellan  there  could  have  been  no 
Grant." 


LEE'S   AUDACITY  141 

"Though  badly  found  in  weapons,  ammu 
nition,  military  equipment,  etc.,"  says  Field 
Marshal  Viscount  Wolseley,  in  speaking  of  Lee 
at  this  time,  "his  army  had,  nevertheless, 
achieved  great  things.  His  men  were  so  badly 
shod  (indeed,  a  considerable  portion  had  no 
boots  or  shoes)  that  at  the  battle  of  Antietam 
General  Lee  assured  me  he  never  had  more 
than  35,000  men  with  him;  the  remainder  of 
his  army,  shoeless  and  footsore,  were  straggling 
along  the  roads  in  the  rear  trying  to  reach  him 
in  time  for  the  battle." 

Had  Lee  been  in  McClellan's  place  who  can 
doubt  what  the  issue  would  have  been!  In  fact, 
Mr.  Lincoln  plainly  put  this  question  to  McClel- 
lan  in  another  connection,  and  a  little  later  re 
lieved  him  of  command  and  put  the  brave  but 
hesitating  Burnside  in  his  place  only  to  add  on 
the  fatal  field  of  Fredericksburg  new  laurels  to 
Lee's  chaplet. 

Burnside,  having  made  it  manifest  that  he 
designed  to  cross  the  Rappahannock  at  Fred 
ericksburg,  Lee  promptly  moved  down  from 
Culpeper  and  Orange  on  the  upper  waters  of 
the  Rappahannock,  and  posting  himself  on  the 
heights  on  the  southern  side  of  the  town,  forti 
fied  and  awaited  Burnside's  advance.  The 
fortifications  for  the  artillery  were  made  under 


142  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

the  superintendence  of  General  Lee's  chief  of 
artillery,  General  Wm.  N.  Pendleton,  and  were 
much  commended.  At  least  they  served.  It 
was  now  nearly  mid-December.  Burnside's 
forces  as  given  by  himself  numbered  113,000; 
while  Lee's  total  strength  was  78,288  men  of  all 


arms.* 


The  actual  laying  of  the  pontoons  was  gal 
lantly  effected  by  the  federal  troops  on  the  after 
noon  of  the  I  ith,  under  cover  of  a  heavy  artillery 
fire  from  150  guns,  and  that  evening  and  the  fol 
lowing  day  Burnside's  army  crossed  over,  their 
movements  being  veiled  by  a  heavy  fog  which  rose 
from  the  river  and  the  sodden  ground,  blanketing 
all  beneath  it.  The  following  morning,  as  the 
fog  lifted,  Burnside's  army,  with  Franklin  com 
manding  his  left  and  Sumner  his  right,  advanced 
to  the  attack  where  Lee  lay  along  the  heights 
above  the  town,  with  Longstreet  commanding 
his  left  and  Jackson  his  right.  It  was  a  battle 
as  fierce  almost  as  Sharpsburg,  and  scarcely  less 
deadly  for  the  hapless  assailants.  The  assault 
began  on  the  less  commanding  hills  to  the  south 
of  the  town  where  Jackson  lay,  his  right  pro 
tected  by  the  artillery  and  Stuart's  cavalry,  faced 
North  on  the  plain  near  Hamilton's  crossing. 
Line  after  line  advanced  to  the  attack,  only  to 

*  Taylor's  "General  Lee,"  pp.  145-146. 


LEE'S  AUDACITY  143 

be  swept  back  with  terrific  slaughter,  and  at  one 
point  where  a  marshy  stream,  known  as  Deep 
Run,  came  through,  bordered  by  woodland,  the 
gallant  assailants  broke  through  the  advanced 
line  of  A.  P.  Hill;  but  they  were  quickly  forced 
back  and  the  line  re-established.  Franklin's 
brave  divisions  having  failed  to  break  Lee's  right, 
an  assault  was  made  against  Lee's  left  by  Sum- 
ner  who  had  been  ordered  to  hold  his  men  where 
they  were  sheltered  by  the  town,  until  "  an  im 
pression"  could  be  made  on  Lee's  right.  It  was 
an  even  more  impossible  and  deadly  task  than 
Franklin  had  essayed.  "  Six  distinct  and  separate 
assaults  were  made  against  Longstreet's  front"; 
line  after  line  rushing  recklessly  forward  under 
the  iron  sleet,  "only  to  be  torn  to  pieces,"  and 
melt  away,  without  making  any  impression  on 
Lee's  determined  veterans.  When  night  came, 
the  great  army  of  Burnside  had  been  hurled 
back  with  losses  amounting  to  12,500  men, 
"sacrificed  to  incompetency,"  after  having  dis 
played,  in  a  task  which  "exceeded  human  en 
deavor,"  a  heroism  which  "won  the  praise  and 
the  pity  of  their  opponents."  * 

The  following  day  passed  without  the  renewal 

*  Taylor's  "General  Lee,"  p.  148.  The  losses  in  the  Federal 
Army  numbered  12,653;  m  tne  Confederate  Army,  5,322,  killed 
and  wounded. 


i44  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

of  the  attack  which  Lee  expected,  and  that 
night  Burnside,  shaken  and  distressed  over  his 
disaster,  withdrew  his  decimated  divisions  across 
the  Rappahannock  and  next  morning  sent  a  flag 
of  truce  to  Jackson's  front,  asking  for  a  cessa 
tion  of  hostilities  to  bury  the  dead.* 

Fredericksburg  was,  with  the  exception  of 
Cold  Harbor,  almost  the  only  wholly  defensive 
battle  that  Lee  fought,  and  in  this  he  could 
scarcely  believe  that  Burnside  had  put  forth  all 
his  strength.  His  report  and  letters  show  that 
he  expected  and  awaited  another  and  fiercer 
assault.  It  is  asserted  that  Jackson  counselled 
a  night  attack  on  Burnside's  army  as  it  lay  in 
the  town  after  the  battle,  and  he  undoubtedly 
contemplated  the  possibility  of  such  an  attack, 
for  he  ordered  his  chief  of  medical  staff  to  be 


*  The  writer  as  a  small  boy  rode  over  the  battlefield  of  Fred 
ericksburg  with  his  father,  who  was  a  Major  on  the  staff  of  Gen 
eral  Wm.  N.  Pendleton,  General  Lee's  chief  of  artillery,  and  he 
recalls  vividly  the  terrible  sight  of  a  battlefield  while  the  dead  are 
being  buried:  blood  everywhere — along  the  trenches,  the  shat 
tered  fences  and  the  roadsides — the  orchards,  peeled  by  the 
bullets  and  canister,  looked  at  a  little  distance  as  if  covered  with 
snow;  the  plank  fences  splintered  by  shot  and  shrapnel,  looked 
as  though  they  had  been  whitewashed,  and  the  field,  torn  by  shells 
and  covered  with  dead  horses,  broken  arms  and  debris,  presented 
an  ineffaceable  scene  of  desolation,  while  on  the  common,  being 
filled  with  the  bloody  and  rigid  forms  of  those  who  two  days  before 
had  been  the  bravest  of  the  brave,  was  a  long,  wide,  ghastly  trench, 
where  the  path  of  glory  ended. 


LEE'S  AUDACITY  145 

ready  with  his  bandages  to  furnish  bands  for 
the  arms  of  the  men,  by  which  they  would  know 
each  other,  should  such  an  attack  be  made.* 
Lee,  however,  decided  against  this  plan,  if  it 
was  ever  formally  proposed,  and  in  his  report 
he  gives  his  reason.  'The  attack  on  the  I3th," 
he  says,  "had  been  so  easily  repulsed  and  by  so 
small  a  part  of  our  army  that  it  was  not  sup 
posed  the  enemy  would  limit  his  effort,  which 
in  view  of  the  magnitude  of  his  preparations 
and  the  extent  of  his  force,  seemed  to  be  com 
paratively  insignificant.  Believing,  therefore, 
that  he  would  attack  us,  it  was  not  deemed  ex 
pedient  to  lose  the  advantage  of  our  position 
and  expose  the  troops  to  the  fire  of  his  inac 
cessible  batteries,  beyond  the  river  by  advancing 
against  him." 

Lee  was  at  this  time  at  the  zenith  of  his  fame 
as  a  successful  general,  yet  was  never  more 
modest.  His  letter  of  Christmas  Day,  1862,  to 
his  wife  is  full  of  the  spirit  of  the  man  in  his 
most  intimate  moments.  He  writes:  "I  will 
commence  this  holy  day  by  writing  to  you. 
My  heart  is  filled  with  gratitude  to  God  for  the 
unspeakable  mercies  with  which  He  has  blessed 
us  in  this  day;  for  those  He  has  granted  us  from 

*  Address  on  Stonewall  Jackson,   by  Dr.   Hunter  McGuire, 
"The  Confederate  Cause."     The  Bell  Co.,  Richmond,  Virginia. 


146  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

the  beginning  of  Life,  and  particularly  for  those 
he  has  vouchsafed  us  during  the  past  year. 
What  should  have  become  of  us  without  His 
crowning  help  and  protection  ?  Oh !  if  our 
people  would  only  recognize  it  and  cease  from 
vain  self-boasting  and  adulation,  how  strong 
would  be  my  belief  in  final  success  and  happi 
ness  to  our  country.  But  what  a  cruel  thing  is 
war  to  separate  and  destroy  families  and  friends, 
and  mar  the  purest  joys  and  happiness  God  has 
granted  us  in  this  world,  to  fill  our  hearts  with 
hatred  instead  of  love  for  our  neighbors  and  to 
devastate  the  fair  face  of  this  beautiful  world! 
I  pray  that  on  this  day  when  only  peace  and 
good  will  are  preached  to  mankind,  better 
thoughts  may  fill  the  hearts  of  our  enemies  and 
turn  them  to  peace.  Our  army  was  never  in 
such  good  health  and  condition  since  I  have 
been  attached  to  it.  I  believe  they  share  with 
me  my  disappointment  that  the  enemy  did  not 
renew  the  combat  on  the  I3th.  I  was  holding 
back  all  that  day  and  husbanding  our  strength 
and  ammunition  for  the  great  struggle  for  which 
I  thought  I  was  preparing.  Had  I  divined  that 
was  to  have  been  his  only  effort,  he  would  have 
had  more  of  it.  My  heart  bleeds  at  the  death  of 
every  one  of  our  gallant  men." 

Should  the  portrait  of  a  victorious  general  be 


LEE'S  AUDACITY  147 

drawn,  I  know  no  better  example  than  this 
simple  outline  of  a  Christian  soldier  drawn  out 
of  his  heart  that  Christmas  morning  in  his  tent, 
while  the  world  rang  with  his  victory  of  two  weeks 
before.  It  is  a  portrait  of  which  the  South  may 
well  be  proud. 

But  again  we  have,  following  on  his  success 
in  the  defence  of  Fredericksburg,  the  proof  of 
Lee's  boldness  in  offensive  operations,  which  re 
sulted  in  what  is  esteemed  among  foreign  mili 
tary  critics  as  the  most  brilliant  action,  not  only 
of  the  Civil  War,  but  of  the  century. 

With  a  vast  expenditure  of  care  and  treasure, 
the  armies  of  the  Union  were  once  more  re 
cruited  and  equipped,  and  the  command  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  was  entrusted  to  General 
Hooker,  "Fighting  Joe  Hooker,"  as  he  was 
called — whose  reputation  was  such  that  he  was 
supposed  to  make  good  at  once  all  the  deficiencies 
of  McClellan  and  Burnside.  He  had  shown 
capacity  to  command  a  corps  both  in  the  West 
and  the  East,  and  was  given  to  criticising  his 
superiors  with  much  self-confidence.  His  self- 
confidence  was,  indeed,  so  great  that  it  called 
from  Mr.  Lincoln  one  of  those  remarkable  letters 
which  he  was  given  to  writing  on  occasion.  The 
plan  on  which  he  proceeded  was  acknowledged 
to  be  well-conceived  and  gave  promise  of  victory. 


148  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

While  Burnside  was  ordered  to  cross  the  Rappa- 
hannock  below  Lee's  fortified  position  at  Fred- 
ericksburg,  threaten  his  right  flank,  and  assail  his 
lines  of  communication  with  Richmond,  Hooker 
marched  up  the  river,  crossed  it  high  up  beyond 
Lee's  extreme  left  and  prepared  to  assail  his  rear. 
In  the  full  assurance  that  he  had  "  the  finest  army 
in  the  world  holding  the  strongest  position  on 
the  planet,"  he  elaborated  his  plans  and  pre 
pared  to  deliver  the  assault  which  should  force 
Lee  from  his  defensive  position  with  the  alter 
native  of  the  capture  of  his  entire  army.  Possibly, 
he  ranked  Lee  as  a  captain  good  for  defensive 
operations  alone.  If  so,  his  error  cost  him  dear. 
While  he  was  congratulating  himself  on  his 
tactics  and  issuing  grandiloquent  proclama 
tions  to  his  eager  yet  untried  army  in  the  tone  of 
a  conqueror,  declaring  that  the  enemy  must 
come  out  from  his  breastworks  and  fight  him  on 
his  own  ground  "where  certain  destruction 
awaited  him,"  or  else  "  ingloriously  fly,"  Lee 
performed  the  same  masterly  feat  which  he  had 
already  performed  before  Richmond  and  in  the 
Piedmont,  and  with  yet  more  signal  success. 
Detaching  Stonewall  Jackson  from  his  force  in 
front  of  Burnside,  he  sent  him  around  Hooker's 
right  at  Chancellorsville,  and  while  the  latter 
was  congratulating  himself  that  Lee  was  in 


LEE'S  AUDACITY  149 

full  retreat  on  Gordonsville,  he  fell  upon  him 
and  rolled  him  up  like  a  scroll.  Unhappily, 
his  great  lieutenant  who  performed  this  feat,  fell 
in  the  moment  of  victory,  shot  by  his  own  men 
in  the  dusk  of  the  evening  as  he  galloped  past 
from  a  reconnaissance.  Possibly,  Hooker's  army 
was  saved  by  this  fatal  accident  from  capture 
or  annihilation  that  night.  For  when,  a  week 
later,  Stonewall  Jackson,  still  murmuring  of  his 
battle  lines,  passed  over  the  river  to  rest  under 
the  shade  of  the  trees,  it  was  with  a  fame  hardly 
second  to  that  of  his  great  captain. 

The  question  has  often  been  debated  whether 
the  chief  credit  for  the  victory  at  Chancellors- 
ville  should  be  assigned  to  Lee  or  to  Jackson. 
Lee,  himself,  has  settled  it  in  a  letter  which  he 
wrote  to  Mrs.  Jackson,  in  which  he  states  that 
the  responsibility  for  the  flank  attack  by  Jack 
son,  that  is,  for  the  tactics  which  made  it  possible, 
necessarily  rested  on  him.  He  repeated  the 
statement  in  a  letter  to  his  friend,  Professor 
Bledsoe.  And  apart  from  his  conclusive  state 
ment,  this  is  the  judgment  of  Jackson's  biog 
rapher,  General  Henderson.  Commenting  on 
the  question  as  to  whether  to  Lee  or  Jackson 
the  credit  was  due  for  the  daring  plan  of  the 
campaign  against  Pope,  Henderson  says,  "We 
have  record  of  few  enterprises  of  greater  daring 


150  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

than  that  which  was  then  decided  on;  and  no 
matter  from  whose  brain  it  emanated,  on  Lee 
fell  the  burden  of  the  responsibility;  on  his 
shoulders  and  on  his  alone,  rested  the  honor  of 
the  Confederate  arms,  the  fate  of  Richmond, 
the  independence  of  the  South;  and  if  we  may 
suppose,  so  consonant  was  the  design  proposed 
with  the  strategy  which  Jackson  had  already 
practised,  that  it  was  to  him  its  inception  was 
due,  it  is  still  to  Lee  that  we  must  assign  the 
higher  merit.  It  is  easy  to  conceive.  It  is  less 
easy  to  execute.  But  to  risk  cause  and  country, 
name  and  reputation,  on  a  single  throw,  and  to 
abide  the  issue  with  unflinching  heart,  is  the 
supreme  exhibition  of  the  soldier's  fortitude."  * 
It  is,  indeed,  no  disparagement  from  Jackson's 
fame  to  declare  that,  if  possible,  even  more 
brilliant  than  the  afternoon  attack  on  Hooker's 
right  which  routed  that  wing  and  began  the  de 
moralization  of  his  army,  was  the  final  attack, 
when  Lee,  who  had  left  Early  with  only  enough 
men  at  Fredericksburg  to  hold  Burnside  in 
check,  learning  that  Sedgwick  had  forced  a 
crossing  and  was  marching  on  his  rear,  turned 
and,  leaving  only  a  fragment  of  his  army  to  hold 
the  shaken  Hooker  in  his  breastworks,  fell  on 
Sedgwick  and  hurled  him  back  across  the  river, 

*  Henderson's  "Life  of  Stonewall  Jackson,"  II.,  p.  582. 


LEE'S  AUDACITY  151 

and  then,  turning  again,  fell  on  Hooker's  posi 
tion,  and  so  crushed  him  that  he  was  glad  to 
retreat  by  night,  broken  and  discouraged,  across 
the  Rappahannock. 

The  victory  of  Chancellorsville,  in  which  Lee 
with  62,000  men  and  170  guns  completely 
routed  Hooker  on  his  own  ground  with  120,000 
men  and  448  guns,  was,  declares  Henderson, 
"the  most  brilliant  feat  of  arms  of  the  century." 
Thus,  Lee  had  destroyed  the  reputation  of  more 
generals  than  any  captain  had  destroyed  since 
Napoleon. 

But  the  attrition  was  grinding  away  the  forces 
of  the  blockaded  and  beleaguered  Confederacy. 
It  was  a  case  of  "One  more  such  victory  and  we 
are  lost."  It  became  necessary  to  remove  the 
seat  of  war  into  a  new  region.  For  this  reason 
Lee,  boldly  flanking  Hooker,  who,  secure  on  the 
further  side  of  the  Rappahannock,  was  boasting 
still,  marched  his  army  into  Maryland  and  Penn 
sylvania,  not  for  conquest,  but  for  subsistence, 
and  to  employ  once  more,  at  need,  the  strategy 
which  he  knew  would  compel  the  withdrawal  of 
the  forces  still  threatening  Richmond. 

With  masterly  foresight  he  had  once  written 
that  a  pitched  battle  would  probably  be  fought 
at  York,  or  at  Gettysburg. 

It  was  thus  that  the  wheat-clad  ridges  about 


152  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

the  little  Pennsylvania  town  of  Gettysburg,  with 
the  valley  between  them,  became  the  field  of  the 
battle  which  possibly  turned  the  fluctuating  tide 
of  the  war.  Lee's  meeting  with  Meade's  army 
at  this  spot  was  to  some  extent  a  surprise  to  him; 
for  his  able  and  gallant  cavalry  commander, 
Stuart,  on  whom  he  had  relied  to  keep  him  in 
formed  touching  the  enemy,  had  been  led  by 
the  ardor  of  a  successful  raid  further  afield  than 
had  been  planned,  and  the  presence  of  Meade's 
army  in  force  was  unsuspected  until  too  late  to 
decline  battle.*  Heth's  division  had  sought  the 
place  for  imperatively  needed  supplies  and 
found  the  Union  troops  holding  it,  and  a  battle 
was  precipitated.  Lee's  plan  of  battle  failed 
here,  but  the  student  of  war  knows  how  it 
failed  and  why.  It  failed  because  his  lieuten 
ants  failed,  and  his  orders  were  not  carried  out 
— possibly  because  he  called  on  his  intrepid 
army  for  more  than  human  strength  was  able 
to  achieve.  "Had  I  had  Jackson  at  Gettys 
burg,"  he  once  said,  "I  should,  so  far  as  man 
can  judge,  have  won  that  battle." 

*  That  Stuart  was  in  any  way  responsible  for  this  is  denied  by 
Colonel  John  S.  Mosby,  in  his  "Stuart  in  the  Gettysburg  Cam 
paign." 


CHAPTER  X 

LEE'S    CLEMENCY 

pOSSIBLY,  Lee's  one  fault  as  a  soldier  was 
that  he  was  not  always  rigorous  enough  with 
his  subordinates;  that,  if  such  a  thing  be  possible, 
he  was  too  magnanimous.  He  took  blame  on  him 
self  where  it  should  rightly  have  been  adjudged 
to  others.  Yet,  this  weakness  as  a  soldier  but 
added  to  his  nobility  as  a  man,  and  it  is  as  a 
man — a  type  of  the  man  bred  of  Southern  blood 
and  under  the  Southern  civilization  that  we  are 
now  considering  him. 

While  many  competent  critics  in  his  army 
were  charging  Longstreet  with  having  been  the 
cause  of  the  disaster  at  Gettysburg,  Lee  wrote 
him  a  letter  such  as  only  a  man  of  noble  nature 
could  have  written  to  an  old  comrade  who  had 
failed  him.  He  showed  him  a  magnanimity 
which  was  ill  requited  when  Longstreet  wrote 
his  own  story  of  the  war. 

As  the  years  pass  by,  the  military  genius  of 
Lee  must  be  more  and  more  restricted  to  the  study 
of  a  class.  His  character  will  ever  remain  the 

153 


154  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

precious  possession  of  his  kindred  and  his  people. 
In  all  the  annals  of  his  race  none  has  excelled  it. 
Among  his  characteristics  his  humanity  stands 
forth  to  distinguish  him  forever  from  possibly 
nearly  all  his  contemporaries.  Colonel  Charles 
Marshall,  of  his  staff,  who  knew  him  best  among 
men,  declares  that  he  never  put  a  spy  to  death, 
and  the  story  is  well  known  of  his  clemency  in 
the  case  of  a  deserter  who  had  been  found  guilty 
by  a  court-martial,  and  condemned  to  death.  It 
was  during  the  terrible  campaign  of  1864,  when 
the  women  at  home  wrote  such  heart-rending  ac 
counts  of  their  want  to  their  husbands  in  the 
field,  that  Lee  was  compelled  to  forbid  the  mails 
to  be  delivered.  A  soldier  who  had  disappeared 
from  his  regiment  and  gone  home  was  arrested 
and  tried  as  a  deserter.  His  defence  was  a  letter 
which  he  had  received  from  his  wife,  which 
showed  that  she  and  her  children  were  starving. 
It  was  held  insufficient,  and  he  was  sentenced  to 
be  shot.  The  case,  however,  was  so  pitiful  that 
it  was  finally  presented  to  General  Lee.  He 
wrote  beneath  the  finding  his  approval,  and  then 
below  that,  an  order  that  the  man  should  im 
mediately  rejoin  his  regiment.  There  were,  of 
course,  unhappily,  other  instances  enough  in 
which  discipline  had  to  be  enforced,  and  when 
the  exigency  arose  he  was  rock.  But,  as  has 


LEE'S   CLEMENCY  155 

been  well  said  by  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams, 
possibly  his  surest  and  loftiest  title  to  enduring 
fame    was,    "his    humanity    in    arms    and    his 
scrupulous  regard  for  the  most  advanced  rules    • 
of  modern  warfare." 

An  incident,  small  in  itself,  but  illustrative  of 
the  compassionate  character  of  Lee  occurred 
during  one  of  his  fiercest  battles.  He  was  stand 
ing  with  officers  of  his  staff  in  the  yard  of  a 
dwelling  on  an  eminence,  when  the  group  at 
tracted  the  attention  of  the  enemy  and  a  hot 
fire  was  directed  on  them.  General  Lee  sug 
gested  to  his  companions  to  go  to  a  less  exposed 
spot,  but  he  himself  remained  where  he  was. 
A  little  later  as  he  moved  about  he  stooped  and 
picked  up  a  young  bird,  and,  walking  across  the 
yard,  placed  the  fledgling  on  a  limb  in  a  place 
of  security. 

It  was  characteristic  of  him  that  ordinarily, 
wherever  he  might  be,  he  slept  in  a  tent,  for  fear 
of  incommoding  the  occupants  of  the  houses  he 
might  have  taken  for  his  headquarters,  and  at 
times  when  he  was  inspecting  the  long  lines  from 
Richmond  to  Petersburg,  he  even  hesitated  to 
seek  shelter  at  night  in  the  camp  of  an  acquaint 
ance  lest  he  might  inconvenience  him.f 

*  Address  delivered  at  Lexington,  Virginia,  January  19,  1907. 
t Long's  "Lee,"  quoting  Col.  Thomas  H.  Carter. 


156  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

He  writes  later,  during  the  stress  of  war,  to 
his  eldest  son,  "...  I  hope  we  will  be  able  to 
do  something  for  the  servants.  I  executed  a 
deed  of  manumission  embracing  all  the  names 
sent  me  by  your  mother,  and  some  that  I  recol 
lected,  but  as  I  had  nothing  to  refer  to  but  my 
memory,  I  fear  many  were  omitted.  It  was  my 
desire  to  manumit  all  the  people  of  your  grand 
father,  whether  present  on  the  several  estates  or 
not.  I  believe  your  mother  only  sent  me  the 
names  of  those  present  at  W.[hiteJ  H.fouse],  and 
Romancoke.  Those  that  have  left  with  the 
enemy  may  not  require  their  manumission. 
Still,  some  may  be  found  hereafter  in  the  State, 
and,  at  any  rate,  I  wished  to  give  a  complete 
list,  and  to  liberate  all  to  show  that  your  grand 
father's  wishes,  so  far  as  I  was  concerned,  had 
been  fulfilled.  ...  I  shall  pay  wages  to  Perry 
[his  body-servant],  and  retain  him  until  he  or  I 
can  do  better.  You  can  do  the  same  with  Billy. 
The  rest  that  are  hired  out  had  better  be  fur 
nished  with  their  papers  and  be  let  go.  But 
what  can  be  done  with  those  at  the  W.  H.  and 
Romancoke  ?  Those  at  and  about  Arlington 
can  take  care  of  themselves,  I  hope,  and  I  have 
no  doubt  but  all  are  gone  who  desire  to  do  so. 
At  any  rate,  I  can  do  nothing  for  them  now."  * 

*  Letter  to  General  G.  W.  C.  Lee,  January  nth,  1863. 


LEE'S  CLEMENCY  157 

In  another  letter,  dated  March  31,  1863,  he 
writes  further  showing  his  solicitude  about  his 
freed  servants.  One  he  wishes  a  place  gotten 
for  on  a  Railway;  two  others  who  had  been 
hired  out  he  advises  to  remain  where  they  are 
till  the  end  of  the  year,  when  they  are  to  have 
their  earnings  devoted  to  their  own  benefit. 
"But  what  can  be  done,"  he  asks,  "with  poor 
little  Jim  ?  It  would  be  cruel  to  turn  him  out  on 
the  world.  He  could  not  take  care  of  himself."  * 

This  is  an  epitome  of  the  old  Virginian's  rela 
tion  to  his  servants,  and  it  will  be  observed  that 
this  representative  of  his  class  never  speaks  of 
them  as  his  slaves,  even  in  discussing  intimately 
with  his  son  their  legal  status. 

His  love  of  children  and  his  companionship 
with  them  shine  forth  in  his  letters,  and  mark 
the  simplicity  that  is  so  often  allied  to  true 
greatness.  In  one  of  his  letters  to  his  wife  long 
before  the  war,  when  he  was  on  duty  in  the 
West,  he  gives  a  glimpse  of  this  tenderness 
toward  children  which  ever  distinguished  him. 
He  says  of  a  ride  he  took:  "...  I  saw  a  num 
ber  of  little  girls,  all  dressed  up  in  their  white 
frocks  and  pantalets,  their  hair  plaited  and  tied 
up  with  ribbons,  running  and  chasing  each 
other  in  all  directions.  I  counted  twenty-three 

*  Jones's  "Life  and  Letters  of  Robert  E.  Lee,"  pp.  286-287. 


158  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

nearly  the  same  size.  As  I  drew  up  my  horse  to 
admire  the  spectacle,  a  man  appeared  at  the 
door  with  the  twenty-fourth  in  his  arms.  'My 
friend/  said  I,  'are  all  these  your  children?' 
'Yes/  he  said,  'and  there  are  nine  more  in 
the  house  and  this  is  my  youngest.' 

"Upon  further  inquiry,  however,  I  found 
that  they  were  only  temporarily  his.  He  said, 
however,  that  he  had  been  admiring  them  be 
fore  I  came  up,  and  just  wished  that  he  had  a 
million  of  dollars,  and  that  they  were  all  his  in 
reality.  I  do  not  think  the  eldest  exceeded 
seven  or  eight  years  old.  It  was  the  prettiest 
sight  I  have  seen  in  the  West,  and,  perhaps,  in 
my  life.  ..." 

Such  was  the  heart  of  this  great  Captain  who, 
to  some,  seemed  cold  and  aloof  when,  as  Emer 
son  says,  his  genius  only  protected  itself  by 
solitude. 

Writing,  years  after,  to  his  wife,  of  three  little 
girls,  the  children  of  an  old  neighbor  who  had 
lived  near  them  in  happier  days  at  Arlington, 
who  had  paid  him  a  visit  in  his  camp  near 
Petersburg,  each  with  a  basket  in  which  they 
had  brought  him  fresh  eggs,  pickles  and  a  pair 
of  socks,  "I  begged  them,"  he  said,  "to  bring 
me  nothing  but  their  kisses  and  to  keep  the 
eggs,  corn,  etc.,  for  themselves." 


LEE'S   CLEMENCY  159 

Of  Lee's  tranquil  mind  even  amid  the  most 
difficult  conditions,  we  have  constant  proof.  No 
apparent  disadvantage  of  position  no  threats  or 
impending  dangers  appear  to  have  disturbed 
that  equanimity  which  so  marks  him  as  among 
the  great. 

While  McClellan,  accepting  the  wildest  state 
ments  of  "intelligent  contrabands"  was  rating 
the  force  in  his  front  at  two  and  a  half  times  its 
actual  numbers  and  was  throwing  away  precious 
time  while  he  clamored  for  reinforcements,  and 
while  his  successors  often  saw  a  vast  army  in 
their  front  whose  shadows  caused  them  much 
delay,  Lee,  from  the  first,  even  amid  the  deep 
est  darkness  of  the  situation  saw  with  a  clear 
ness  which  no  gloom  could  obscure.  Writing 
from  his  camp,  during  the  Western  Virginia  cam 
paign  he  says:  "The  force  of  the  enemy  esti 
mated  by  prisoners  captured  is  put  down  at 
from  17,000  to  20,000.  General  Floyd  thinks 
18,000.  I  do  not  think  it  exceeds  9,000  or 
10,000,  but  it  exceeds  ours."  * 

From  camp  near  Orange  Court  House  he 
writes  on  the  eve  of  the  battle  of  Second  Man- 
assas,  under  date  of  August  17,  1862:  "Gen 
eral  Pope  says  he  is  very  strong  and  seems  to 

*  Letter  to  Mrs.  Lee,  October  7,  1861;   letter  to  his  son,  Major 
W.  H.  F.  Lee,  October  12,  1861. 


160  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

feel  so;  for  he  is  moving  apparently  up  the 
Rapidan.  I  hope  he  will  not  prove  stronger 
than  we  are.  I  learn  since  I  have  left  that 
General  McClellan  has  moved  down  the  James 
River,  with  his  whole  army,  so  we  shall  have 
busy  times.  Burnside  and  King  from  Fred- 
ericksburg  have  joined  Pope,  which  from  their 
own  report  has  swelled  Pope  to  92,000.  I  do 
not  believe  it,  though  I  believe  he  is  very  big." 

"General  Hooker,"  he  wrote,  "is  agitating 
something  on  the  other  side,  or  at  all  events  he 
is  agitating  his  troops.  .  .  .  Yesterday  he  was 
marching  his  men  up  and  down  the  river.  .  .  ." 

And  again,  "General  Hooker  is  airing  him 
self  north  of  the  Rappahannock  and  again 
threatening  us  with  a  crossing.  ...  I  think  he 
will  consider  it  a  few  days."  And  this  of  an 
enemy  who  had,  by  his  own  field-reports  a  little 
later,  137,378  men,  whom  he  had  pronounced 
"the  finest  army  on  the  planet,"  while  Lee  had 
only  53,303.  But  if  Hooker  prided  himself  on 
his  fine  army,  Lee  had  no  less  confidence  in  his 
own,  however  outnumbered.  "I  agree  with 
you,"  he  wrote  Hood,  "in  believing  that  our 
army  would  be  invincible  if  properly  organized 
and  officered.  There  never  were  such  men  in 
an  army  before.  They  will  go  anywhere  and  do 
anything  if  properly  led.  But  there  is  the  diffi- 


LEE'S   CLEMENCY  161 

culty — proper  commanders;  where  can  they  be 
obtained  ?"  * 

Once  he  wrote,  "General  Hooker  is  obliged 
to  do  something:  I  do  not  know  what  it  will  be. 
He  is  playing  the  Chinese  game,  trying  what 
frightening  will  do.  He  runs  out  his  guns, 
starts  his  wagons  and  troops  up  and  down  the 
river  and  creates  an  excitement  generally.  Our 
men  look  on  in  wonder,  give  a  cheer,  and  all 
again  subsides  in  statu  quo  ante  helium"  f 

It  has  been  customary  to  think  of  piety  as  the 
peculiar  attribute  of  Jackson,  the  Puritan  in 
type,  rather  than  of  Lee,  the  Cavalier.  But,  if 
possible,  Lee  was  even  more  pious  than  his 
great  Lieutenant.  In  fact,  both  were  men  who, 
in  the  early  prime  of  their  manhood,  conse 
crated  themselves  to  God,  and  thenceforth  served 
him  with  a  single  heart.  It  shines  forth  in  every 
page  they  ever  penned.  It  was  the  basis  of  their 
character;  it  formed  the  foundation  of  that 
wonderful  poise  which,  amid  the  most  difficult 
and  arduous  situations  left  them  the  supreme 
tranquillity  which  was  the  field  in  which  their 
powers  found  exercise.  No  one  can  familiarize 
himself  with  Lee's  life  without  seeing  that  he 
was  a  man  consecrated  to  the  work  of  his 

*  Letter  to  General  J.  B.  Hood,  May  21,  1863. 
f  Letter  to  his  daughter  Agnes,  February  26,  1863. 


162  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

Divine  Master  and  amid  all  conditions  pos 
sessed  a  mind  stayed  on  Him. 

Not  Cromwell's  army  was  more  religious 
than  that  which  followed  Lee,  and  the  great 
Protector  was  not  so  pious  as  the  great  Captain 
who  led  the  army  of  Northern  Virginia. 

The  principle  on  which  he  acted  was  stated 
in  one  of  his  letters:  "We  are  all  in  the  hands  of 
a  kind  God,"  he  wrote,  "who  will  do  for  us 
what  is  best,  and  more  than  we  deserve,  and  we 
have  only  to  endeavor  to  deserve  more  and  to  do 
our  duty  to  Him  and  to  ourselves.  May  we  all  de 
serve  His  mercy,  His  care  and  His  protection."* 

Such  was  the  man  to  whom  Virginia  con 
fided  the  leadership  of  her  soldiery. 

His  advice  to  his  youngest  son,  whom  he  had 
advised  on  leaving  college  to  enlist  in  a  good 
company,  was  characteristic  of  him:  "To  be 
obedient  to  all  authority,  and  to  do  his  duty  in 
everything,  great  or  small."  f 

It  was  also  characteristic  alike  of  him  and  of 
the  soldiery  of  the  South  that  he  should  have 
refused  to  procure  for  this  son  a  commission, 
as  long  afterward  he  promptly  discounte 
nanced  the  idea  of  promoting  his  eldest  son 
(though  a  soldier  so  accomplished  that  he 

*  Letter  of  September  i,  1856;   cited  in  Jones's  "Lee"  p.  81. 
f  "  Recollections  of  General  Lee,'"  by  Captain  R.  E.  Lee. 


LEE'S   CLEMENCY  163 

wished  for  him  as  his  chief  of  staff)  over  the 
heads  of  officers  who  had  served  under  him  and 
proved  their  capacity  under  his  eye. 

"I  do  not  think,"  says  the  former,  in  his  in 
teresting  "Recollections"  of  his  father,  "that 
it  ever  occurred  to  my  father  to  have  me,  or 
rather  get  me,  a  position  in  the  army.  I  know 
it  never  occurred  to  me,  nor  did  I  ever  hear  at 
that  time  or  afterward  from  any  one  that  I 
might  have  been  entitled  to  better  rank  because 
of  my  father's  prominence  in  Virginia  and  in 
the  Confederacy."  * 

It  was  not  until  that  son  had  fought  as  a  pri 
vate  through  the  Valley  campaigns  of  Jackson, 
the  battles  around  Richmond,  the  Maryland 
campaign,  and  had  distinguished  himself,  f  that 
he  received  the  promotion  to  the  staff  of  his 
brother,  General  Wm.  H.  F.  Lee. 

Indeed,  one  of  the  troubles  with  which  Lee 
had  to  contend  was  the  efforts  made  by  poli 
ticians  in  the  civil  government  to  procure  com 
missions  and  promotions  for  their  constituents, 
and  the  delay  experienced  in  getting  his  recom 
mendations  for  promotion  for  merit  acted  on. 

The   fact   constitutes   one   of  the   few   com- 

*  "  Recollections  of  General  Lee,"  by  R.  E.  Lee. 
t  Moore's    "Recollections  of  a  Cannoneer    under   Jackson." 
Neale  Co. 


164  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

plaints  in  his  letters,  and  he  set  the  example  by 
steadfastly  setting  his  face  against  any  favorit 
ism  toward  his  own  family.  His  two  sons  who 
became  generals,  were  both  officers  in  the  old 
army  and  were  both  in  the  retreat  to  Appomattox 
until  one  of  them  was  captured  with  five  other 
general  officers  and  some  6,000  men  at  Taylor's 
Creek  in  one  of  the  last  fights  of  the  war.  Of 
their  character  some  idea  may  be  formed  from 
the  fact  that  when  one  of  them,  General  Wm. 
H.  F.  Lee  was  held  as  a  hostage  under  sentence 
of  death,  the  other,  General  G.  W.  C.  Lee, 
wrote,  asking  to  be  accepted  as  a  hostage  in  his 
stead,  placing  the  offer  on  the  ground  that  his 
brother  had  a  wife  and  child,  while  he,  his  equal 
in  rank,  and  the  eldest  son,  was  unmarried. 

Of  his  son's  confinement  under  sentence  as 
a  hostage  which,  the  father  says,  was  "grievous" 
to  him,  Lee  writes  to  his  other  son.  "  I  had  seen 
in  the  papers  the  intention  announced  by  the 
Federal  government  of  holding  him  as  a  hostage 
for  the  two  captains  selected  to  be  shot.  If  it  is 
right  to  shoot  those  men  this  should  make  no 
difference  in  their  execution;  but  I  have  not 
thought  it  right  to  shoot  them,  and  differ  in  my 
ideas  from  most  of  our  people  on  the  subject 
of  reprisal.  Sometimes  I  know  it  to  be  neces 
sary,  but  it  should  not  be  resorted  to  at  all 


LEE'S  CLEMENCY  165 

times,  and  in  our  case  policy  dictates  that  it 
should  be  avoided  whenever  possible."  * 

Happy  the  people  that  can  produce  such  a 
father  and  such  sons! 

It  is  told  of  Sidney  that,  when  wounded  and 
perishing  of  thirst,  some  one  brought  him  water, 
and  he  ordered  it  given  to  a  dying  soldier  whose 
need  was  greater  than  his.  Hardly  a  soldier  in 
Lee's  army  would  not  have  done  that  which  gave 
Sidney  fame.  Such  was  the  temper  and  char 
acter  of  the  men  who  followed  Lee,  and  such  was 
the  temper  and  character  of  their  beloved  com 
mander,  whom  they  loved  to  call  in  affectionate 
phrase,  "  Marse  Robert."  He  was  their  idol  and 
their  ideal,  and  his  impress  was  stamped  on  his 
army. 

The  Master  whom  he  so  faithfully  and  humbly 
tried  to  serve,  whose  precepts  were  ever  in  his 
heart  and  whose  spirit  shone  ever  in  his  life,  had 
laid  down  for  him  the  law:  "And  to  the  soldiers 
he  said,  Do  violence  to  no  man." 

This  high  rule,  like  all  others  of  his  Divine 
Master,  Lee  ever  followed  and  so  far  as  possible, 
inculcated  on'  his  army,  by  whom,  to  their 
eternal  honor  be  it  said,  the  noble  example  was 
nobly  followed.  Unhappily  for  the  world  and 
for  the  future  reputation  of  some  who  otherwise 

*  Letter  to  General  G.  W.  C.  Lee,  August  7,  1863. 


1 66  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

might  as  able  soldiers  have  won  the  admiration 
of  a  whole  people,  rather  than  of  a  mere  section 
of  that  people,  though  gentlemen  like  McClel- 
lan,  McDowell,  Burnside  and  the  gentlemen 
who  followed  them  conducted  war  on  high 
principles,  it  was  not  the  invariable  rule  among 
all  commanders. 

Butler  had  damned  himself  to  everlasting 
fame  by  orders  and  acts  in  Louisiana  which  no 
soldier  can  think  of  without  a  blush.*  Hunter, 
in  despite  of  expostulations,  had  burnt  his  way 
through  the  beautiful  valley  where  Lee  was  to 
find  his  last  resting  place;  and  had  left  in  his 
track  the  scarred  and  blackened  ruins  of  count 
less  dwellings.  To  the  honor  of  the  brave  men 
he  commanded  it  is  said  that  he  "  had  to  de 
prive  forty  of  his  commissioned  officers  of  their 
commands  before  he  could  carry  into  execution 
his  infamous  orders. "f  Even  Halleck  declared 
his  action  "  barbarous. "f  It  was  reserved  for 
Sherman,  possibly  the  second  greatest  general 
on  the  Northern  side,  to  reverse  most  completely 

*  In  his  infamous  "  Order  28  "  he  had  ordered  that  any  woman 
in  New  Orleans  who  should  "  by  word,  or  gesture,  or  movement 
insult  or  show  contempt  for  any  officer  or  soldier  of  the  United 
States,  should  be  regarded  and  treated  as  a  woman  of  the  town, 
plying  her  avocation." 

t"  Official  Report  of  History  Com.,  Grand  Camp  C.  V.,  in 
'The  Confederate  Cause, '  "  p.  103. 

t  Sherman's  "Memoirs,"  II,  p.  129. 


LEE'S   CLEMENCY  167 

the  advances  of  civilization  and  hark  back  almost 
to  the  ferocious  methods  of  mediaevalism.  To 
find  the  proof  of  this,  one  has  no  need  to  go  out 
side  of  this  officer's  own  recorded  words. 

"War  is  hell,"  he  was  quoted  long  after  as 
saying.  He  did  more  than  all  others  to  make  it 
so.  He  ruthlessly  devastated  not  only  for  the 
needs  of  his  army  and  to  deprive  his  enemy  of 
subsistence,  but  to  horrify  and  appall.  He  made 
war  not  only  on  men,  but  on  women  and  chil 
dren.  He  deliberately  strove  to  carry  terror  into 
the  hearts  of  the  defenceless. 

"In  nearly  all  his  dispatches  after  he  had 
reached  the  sea,"  says  Rhodes,  an  historian  from 
his  State,  who  is  his  apologist  and  his  admirer, 
"he  gloated  over  the  destruction  of  property."  * 

He  gloated  over  the  havoc  he  wrought,  first  in 
anticipation,  as  he  wrote  how  he  could  "make  a 
wreck  of  the  country  from  Chattanooga  to  At 
lanta,  including  the  latter  city,"f  and  again,  how 
he  could  "make  Georgia  howl";f  next,  in  the 
act  of  its  perpetration,  as  he  issued  his  orders  for 
his  army  to  "forage  liberally  on  the  country," 
and  expressly  forbade  his  officers  to  give  receipts 
for  property  taken;  authorized  the  wanton 

*  Rhodes's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  Vol.  V,  p.  22. 
f  Official  Records,  Vol.  XXXIX,  Pt.  2,  p.  202. 
t  Official  Records,  Vol.  XXXIX,  Pt.  3,  p.  162. 


OF  THE  ^ 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


1 68  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

destruction  of  mills  and  houses;  and  while  sub 
ordinate  officers  like  Howard  and  Cox  and 
Schofield  were  writhing  under  the  robberies  of 
defenceless  women,  extending  even  to  the  tearing 
of  rings  from  their  fingers,  chuckled  over  the 
robberies  committed  by  his  men — who  quoted 
his  orders  to  his  face — and  reviewed  his  "bum 
mers,"  an  organized  corps  of  robbers,  who  have 
never  had  their  counterpart  since  the  Free  Com 
panies  passed  from  the  stage  under  the  awaken 
ing  conscience  of  modern  Europe. 

If  these  are  strong  words  they  are  largely 
taken  from  his  own  writings. 

He  sent  an  express  message  to  the  corps  com 
mander  at  General  Howell  Cobb's  plantation, 
General  Davis,  "to  explain  whose  plantation  it 
was  and  instruct  him  to  spare  nothing."*  This 
was  but  warring  on  women,  for  Cobb  was  in 
his  honored  grave  two  years  ere  this,  having 
fallen  at  the  foot  of  Marye's  Heights,  as  a  brave 
man  falls,  holding  back  brave  men.  "I  would 
not  restrain  the  army,"  he  wrote  coolly,  "lest 
its  vigor  and  energy  should  be  impaired. "f 

Speaking  of  the  burning  of  Columbia,  which 
Sherman  wrote  his  brother  he  had  in  his  report 
"distinctly  charged  to  General  Wade  Hamil- 

*  Sherman's  "Memoirs,"  Vol.  II,  p.  185. 
f  Sherman's  "Memoirs,"  II,  p.  255. 


LEE'S  CLEMENCY  169 

ton,"  he  adds,  "I  confess  I  did  so  pointedly  to 
shake  the  faith  of  his  people  in  him."*  A  dis 
tinguished  historian  from  his  own  State  has 
declared  of  this  destruction  of  Columbia,  a  de 
fenceless  city  which  had  surrendered,  that,  "It 
was  the  most  monstrous  barbarity  of  this  bar 
barous  march.  Before  his  movements  began, 
General  Sherman  had  begged  permission  to 
turn  his  army  loose  in  South  Carolina  and 
devastate  it.  He  used  this  permission  to  the 
full.  He  protested  that  he  did  not  wage  war 
upon  women  and  children.  But  under  the 
operations  of  his  orders  the  last  morsel  of  food 
was  taken  from  hundreds  of  destitute  families 
that  his  soldiers  might  feast  in  needless  and  riot 
ous  abundance.  Before  his  eyes,  rose  day  after 
day,  the  mournful  clouds  of  smoke  on  every  side 
that  told  of  old  people  and  their  grandchildren 
driven  in  mid-winter  from  the  only  roofs  that 
were  to  shelter  them,  by  the  flames  which  the 
wantonness  of  his  soldiers  had  kindled.  Yet,  if 
a  single  soldier  was  punished  for  a  single  out 
rage  or  theft  during  that  entire  movement  we 
have  found  no  mention  of  it  in  all  the  volu 
minous  records  of  the  march."  f 

Place  Lee's  general  order  from  Chambersburg 

*  Sherman's  "  Memoirs,"  II.  p.  287. 

t  "Ohio  in  the  War,"  by  Hon.  Whitelaw  Reid. 


1 70  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

on  invading  Pennsylvania,  beside  Sherman's 
correspondence  with  Halleck,  and  let  posterity 
judge  thereby  the  character  of  the  commanders. 
Halleck,  Chief  of  Staff  and  military  adviser  to 
President  Lincoln,  writes  to  Sherman,  "Should 
you  capture  Charleston,  I  hope  that  by  some  ac 
cident  the  place  might  be  destroyed,  and  if  a  lit 
tle  salt  should  be  sown  upon  its  site  it  might  pre 
vent  the  growth  of  future  crops  of  nullification 
and  secession,"  and  Sherman  replies,*  "I  will 
bear  in  mind  your  hint  as  to  Charleston,  and  do 
not  think  salt  will  be  necessary.  When  I  move 
on,  the  fifteenth  corps  will  be  on  the  right  wing, 
and  their  position  will  bring  them  naturally  into 
Charleston  first,  and  if  you  have  watched  the 
history  of  that  corps  you  have  remarked  that 
they  generally  do  up  their  work  pretty 
well." 

While  this  general  was  giving  orders  to  burn 
mills  and  destroy  all  food  sources  on  which  non- 
combatants  depended  for  life,  and  to  convey 
prisoners  first,  or  if  prisoners  were  wanting,  then 
non-combatant  inhabitants,  over  all  bridges  and 
other  places  suspected  of  being  mined,  and  "could 
hardly  help  laughing  at  their  stepping  so  gin 
gerly  along  the  road  where  it  was  supposed  sunk- 

*  Dispatch  of  December  24,  1864.    Sherman's  "Memoirs,"  IT, 
pp.  223,  227-228. 


LEE'S  CLEMENCY  171 

en  torpedoes  might  explode  at  each  step";*  and 
while  even  Grant,  not  yet  risen  to  his  last  splendid 
act  of  magnanimity,  as  he  came  to  rise  in  the  long 
vigils  before  Petersburg,  was  expressing  his  hope 
to  Hunter  that  his  troops  would  "eat  out  Virginia 
clear  and  clean,  as  far  as  they  could  go,  so  that 
crows  flying  over  it  for  the  balance  of  the  sea 
son  would  have  to  carry  their  provender  with 
them";f — Lee,  as  he  marched  into  Pennsylvania, 
issued  orders  to  his  troops  to  remember  that  they 
made  war  only  on  armed  men,  and  that  no 
greater  disgrace  could  befall  the  army,  and 
through  it  the  whole  South,  than  the  perpetra 
tion  of  barbarous  outrages  on  the  innocent 
and  defenceless.  This  whole  order  can  never 
be  too  frequently  repeated.  It  gives  the  man 
as  he  was. 

HDQRS.  ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VA., 

CHAMBERSBURG,  PA.,  June  27,  1863. 

GENL.  ORDER  No.  72. 

The  Commanding  General  has  observed  with 
marked  satisfaction  the  conduct  of  the  troops  on  the 
march,  and  confidently  anticipates  results  com 
mensurate  with  the  high  spirit  they  have  manifested. 
No  troops  could  have  displayed  greater  fortitude  or 

*  Sherman's  "  Memoirs,"  II,  p.  194. 

fOfficial  Records,  Vol.  XXXVII,  Pt.  2,  pp.  300,  301. 


172  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

better  performed  the  arduous  marches  of  the  past  ten 
days.  Their  conduct  in  other  respects  has,  with  few 
exceptions,  been  in  keeping  with  their  character  as 
soldiers  and  entitles  them  to  approbation  and  praise. 

There  have,  however,  been  instances  of  forgetfulness 
on  the  part  of  some  that  they  have  in  keeping  the  yet 
unsullied  reputation  of  the  army,  and  that  the  duties 
exacted  of  us  by  civilization  and  Christianity  are  not 
less  obligatory  in  the  country  of  the  enemy  than  in  our 
own.  The  Commanding  General  considers  that  no 
greater  disgrace  would  befall  the  Army,  and  through  it 
our  whole  people,  than  the  perpetration  of  the  bar 
barous  outrages  upon  the  innocent  and  defenceless 
and  the  wanton  destruction  of  private  property  that 
have  marked  the  course  of  the  enemy  in  our  own 
country.  Such  proceedings  not  only  disgrace  the 
perpetrators  and  all  connected  with  them,  but  are 
subversive  of  the  discipline  and  efficiency  of  the  army 
and  obstructive  to  the  ends  of  our  present  movements. 
[It  must  be  remembered  that  we  make  war  only  on 
armed  men  and  that  we  cannot  take  vengeance  for 
the  wrong  our  people  have  suffered  without  lowering 
ourselves  in  the  eyes  of  all  whose  abhorrence  has  been 
excited  by  the  atrocities  of  our  enemy,  and  offending 
against  Him  to  whom  vengeance  belongeth,  without 
whose  favor  and  support  our  efforts  must  all  prove  in 
vain. 

The  Commanding  General,  therefore,  earnestly 
exhorts  the  troops  to  abstain  with  most  scrupulous  care 
from  unnecessary  or  wanton  injury  to  private  property, 


LEE'S    CLEMENCY  173 

and  he  enjoins  upon  all  officers  to  arrest  and  bring  to 
summary  punishment  all  who  shall  in  any  way  offend 
against  the  orders  on  this  subject. 

R.  E.  LEE, 

General. 

Colonel  Freemantle  of  the  British  Army,  who 
was  along  with  the  army,  says :  "  I  saw  no  strag 
gling  into  the  houses;  nor  were  any  of  the  in 
habitants  disturbed  or  annoyed  by  the  soldiers. 
I  went  into  Chambersburg  and  witnessed  the 
singular  good  behavior  of  the  troops  toward  the 
citizens.  To  one  who  has  seen  the  ravages  of 
the  Northern  troops  in  Southern  towns  this  for 
bearance  seems  most  commendable  and  sur 
prising." 

It  is  a  record  of  general  and  of  men  of  which 
the  South  may  well  be  proud. 


CHAPTER  XI 

GETTYSBURG 

POSSIBLY,  one  other  fault  in  Lee  as  a  soldier 
may  appear  to  some:  that  he  accounted  the 
abilities  of  the  opposing  armies  at  less  than  their 
true  value.  Study  of  the  war  must  lead  to  the 
conviction  that  neither  courage  nor  fortitude  was 
the  monopoly  of  either  side.  The  men  who  with 
stood  at  Malvern  Hill  the  fierce  charges  of  the 
Southern  infantry;  the  men  who  marched  down 
the  rolling  plain  of  Second  Manassas  against 
Stonewall  Jackson's  lines  of  flame,  and  dashed 
like  the  surging  sea,  wave  upon  wave,  on  Lee's 
iron  ranks  at  Antietam;  the  men  who  charged 
impregnable  defences  at  Marye's  Heights;  the 
men  who  climbed  the  slippery  steeps  of  Chatta 
nooga  and  swept  the  crimson  plain  of  Franklin; 
the  men  who  maintained  their  positions  under 
the  leaden  sleet  of  the  Wilderness  and  seized  the 
Bloody  Angle  at  Spottsylvania;  the  men  who 
died  at  Cold  Harbor,  rank  on  rank,  needed  to 
ask  no  odds  for  valor  of  any  troops  on.  earth,  not 
even  of  the  men  who  followed  Lee. 

174 


GETTYSBURG  175 

In  a  recent  discussion  of  this  subject,  the 
philosophical  Charles  Francis  Adams,  himself 
a  veteran  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  whose 
laurels  were  won  in  opposing  Lee,  quotes  with 
approval  Lee's  proud  declaration  that,  "there 
never  were  such  men  in  an  army  before.  They 
will  go  anywhere  and  do  anything  if  properly 
led."  "And  for  myself,"  he  adds,  "I  do  not 
think  the  estimate  thus  expressed  was  exag 
gerated.  Speaking  deliberately,  having  faced 
some  portions  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 
at  the  time,  and  having  reflected  much  on  the 
occurrences  of  that  momentous  period,  I  do  not 
believe  that  any  more  formidable,  or  better 
organized  and  animated  force  was  ever  set  in 
motion  than  that  which  Lee  led  across  the  Po 
tomac  in  the  early  summer  of  1863.  It  was  es 
sentially  an  army  of  fighters — men  who  individu 
ally  or  in  the  mass  could  be  depended  upon  for 
any  feat  of  arms  in  the  power  of  mere  mortals 
to  accomplish.  They  would  blench  at  no  dan 
ger.  This  Lee,  from  experience,  knew.  He  had 
tested  them;  they  had  full  confidence  in  him."* 

Lee's  error,  such  as  it  was,  lay  not  in  over 
rating  his  own  weapon,  but  in  undervaluing 
the  larger  weapon  of  his  antagonist.  Yet,  if 
this  under-rating  of  his  enemy  was  a  fault  it 

*  Address  at  Lexington,  Virginia,  cited  ante. 


1 76  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

was  a  noble  one;  and  how  often  it  led  to  victory! 
Lee's  success  was  due  largely  to  his  splendid 
audacity. 

If,  in  attacking  the  redoubtable  forces  of 
Meade  on  the  heights  of  Gettysburg,  he  over 
estimated  the  ability  of  that  army  of  sixty 
thousand  Southern  men  who  wore  the  gray, 
who  can  wonder  ?  In  their  rags  and  tatters, 
ill-shod  and  ill-armed,  they  were  the  flower  of 
the  South.  Had  he  not  seen  them  on  every 
field  since  Mechanicsville  ?  Seen  them,  under 
his  masterly  tactics  and  inspiring  eye,  sweep 
McClellan's  mighty  army  from  the  very  gates 
of  Richmond  ?  Seen  them  send  Pope,  routed 
and  demoralized,  to  the  shelter  of  the  fortifica 
tions  around  Alexandria  ?  Seen  them  repel 
McClellan's  furious  charges  on  the  field  of 
Antietam  and  hold  him  at  bay  with  a  fresh 
army  at  his  back  ?  Seen  them  drive  Burnside's 
valorous  men  back  to  their  entrenchments  ? 
Seen  them  roll  Hooker's  great  army  up  as  a 
scroll  and  hurl  it  back  across  the  Rappahan- 
nock  ?  What  was  disparity  of  numbers  to  him  ? 
What  strength  of  position  ?  His  greatest  vic 
tories  had  been  plucked  by  daring,  which  hith 
erto  fortune  had  proved  the  wisest  of  calculation, 
from  the  jaws  of  apparent  impossibility.  Be 
sides,  who  knew  so  well  as  he  the  necessity  of 


GETTYSBURG  177 

striking  such  a  blow  ?  The  Southwest  was  being 
gradually  conquered.  Vicksburg,  the  last  strong 
hold  of  the  Confederacy  on  the  Mississippi,  was 
in  the  last  throes  of  a  fatal  siege,  and,  on  the 
same  day  that  Lee  faced  his  fate  at  the  heights 
of  Gettysburg,  fell,  and  the  Confederate  South 
was  cut  in  two.  His  delivering  battle  here  under 
such  conditions  has  been  often  criticised.  He  is 
charged  with  having  violated  a  canon  of  war. 
He  replied  to  his  critics  once  that  even  so  dull  a 
man  as  himself  could  see  clearly  enough  his  mis 
takes  after  they  were  committed. 

This  battle,  now  generally  esteemed  the  cru 
cial  battle  of  the  war,  has  been  fought  over 
so  often  and  so  fully  that  it  is  not  necessary 
to  go  over  its  details  now,  and  to  do  so  is  not 
within  the  scope  of  this  volume,  which  only 
deals  with  Lee's  military  genius  as  borne  evi 
dence  to  by  his  audacity.  Gettysburg  was  only 
one  factor  in  the  unbroken  chain  of  proof  to 
establish  his  boldness  and  his  resolution.  South 
ern  historians  have  unanimously  placed  the 
chief  responsibility  for  his  defeat  on  Longstreet, 
whose  tendency  to  be  dilatory  and  obstinate  has 
been  noted  in  connection  with  the  fields  of  Seven 
Pines,  Frazer's  Farm  and  Second  Manassas, 
and  whose  slowness  and  surliness  now  probably 
cost  Lee  this  battle  and  possibly  cost  the  South, 


178  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

if  not  its  independence,  at  least  the  offer  of 
honorable  terms.  And  in  this  estimate  of  him 
many  other  competent  critics  concur.  "Lee," 
says  Henderson  in  his  "Life  of  Stonewall  Jack 
son,"  "lost  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  because 
he  allowed  his  second  in  command  to  argue 
instead  of  marching."  *  Lee,  we  know,  held 
him  in  high  esteem,  speaking  of  him  as  his 
"old  war  horse,"  and  was  too  magnanimous  ever 
to  give  countenance  to  the  furious  clamor  which 
later  assailed  his  sturdy  if  opinionated  and  bull- 
headed  lieutenant.  Longstreet  seems,  indeed, 
to  have  been  not  unlike  a  bull,  ponderous  and 
dull  until  aroused,  but  once  aroused  by  the 
sight  of  blood,  terrible  in  his  fury  and  a  fero 
cious  fighter.  But  the  question  here  is,  did  Lee 
err  or  not  in  fighting  the  battle. 

In  brief,  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  came  of  the 
necessity  to  "yield  to  a  stronger  power  than 
General  Burnside."  Feeling  the  imperative 
necessity  of  relieving  Virginia  of  the  burden  that 
was  crushing  her  to  the  earth,  Lee  determined 
as  the  summer  of  1863  drew  near,  to  manoeuvre 
Hooker  from  his  impregnable  position  on  the 
Stafford  Heights  and  to  transfer  the  theatre 
of  war  to  Northern  soil.  His  army,  though 
not  large,  was  a  veteran  body  who,  properly 

*  Vol.  II,  p.  488. 


GETTYSBURG  179 

led,  would  go  anywhere  and  do  anything  they 
were  ordered  to  do.  Accordingly,  in  the  first 
week  of  June  (from  the  3d  to  the  yth),  Lee, 
leaving  A.  P.  Hill  to  occupy  the  lines  at  Fred- 
ericksburg  and  cover  Richmond,  withdrew  the 
major  portion  of  his  force  to  Culpeper,  and 
directed  them  from  there  to  the  Shenandoah 
Valley,  which  he  immediately  cleared  of  the 
enemy,  capturing  in  the  several  engagements 
fought  in  his  advance  from  Culpeper  to  Win 
chester,  over  4,000  men,  29  pieces  of  artillery 
and  many  stores. 

As  he  anticipated,  his  strategy  drew  Hooker 
back  toward  the  Potomac,  and  Longstreet  was 
moved  forward  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Blue 
Ridge,  while  A.  P.  Hill  followed  Ewell  over  the 
mountains  into  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  the  whole 
being  screened  by  Stuart's  cavalry. 

By  the  middle  of  the  month  (June)  Lee's  ad 
vanced  corps  had  crossed  the  Potomac  and  Long- 
street  was  ordered  soon  afterward  to  do  the  same, 
while  Stuart  was  left  to  impede  Hooker  should 
he  attempt  to  follow  across  the  Potomac,  it  being 
left  to  Stuart's  discretion  whether  to  cross  east 
or  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge;  but  on  crossing  he 
was  to  cover  the  right  of  the  army.  On  the 
2  ist,  Ewell  was  ordered  to  advance  in  the  direc 
tion  of  Harrisburg,  and  he  reached  Carlisle  on 


i8o  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

the  27th.  On  the  same  day  Longstreet  and  A. 
P.  Hill  reached  the  vicinity  of  Chambersburg. 
Up  to  this  time  no  information  had  come  from 
any  source  of  the  crossing  of  the  Potomac  by 
the  Federal  army,  and  it  was  not  until  the  28th 
that  Lee  was  apprised  by  one  of  his  scouts  that 
the  army  had  crossed  several  days  before  and 
was  near  South  Mountain.  Lee  promptly  de 
cided  to  concentrate  his  forces  on  the  east  of  the 
mountains,  and  Hill  was  ordered  to  Cashtown, 
to  the  north-westward  of  Gettysburg,  to  which 
place  a  turnpike  ran,  with  Longstreet  following 
next  day. 

On  the  morning  of  the  3Oth,  Pettigrew's 
brigade,  of  Heth's  division,  was  ordered  to  the 
little  town  of  Gettysburg,  a  few  miles  away,  to 
get  shoes  and  other  supplies  of  which  it  stood 
sorely  in  need,  and  found  it  occupied  by  the 
enemy,  who  were  not  known  to  be  nearer  than 
fifteen  miles  away.  General  Lee  having  arrived 
at  Cashtown  on  the  morning  of  July  ist,  Heth 
was  sent  to  ascertain  the  force  of  the  enemy,  but 
was  ordered  if  he  found  infantry  in  force  to  re 
port  the  fact  and  not  force  an  engagement.  At 
this  time  Hill  had  two  divisions  up  and  the 
third  not  far  in  the  rear,  and  Ewell  was  on  his 
way,  having  been  ordered  to  recall  his  divisions 
and  concentrate  about  Cashtown.  Before  long 


GETTYSBURG  181 

the  sound  of  artillery  from  the  direction  of  Get 
tysburg  gave  evidence  that  an  engagement  was 
on,  and  General  Lee,  accompanied  by  Hill, 
hastened  to  the  front,  where  they  found  that 
the  enemy's  artillery  and  infantry,  who  were 
present  in  considerable  force,  had  driven  Heth's 
two  advanced  brigades  back,  and  the  whole 
division  was  now  hotly  engaged. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  famous  three 
days'  battle  of  Gettysburg;  for  from  this  time 
on  the  conflict  continued  with  only  the  inter 
missions  due  to  darkness  and  the  need  for  fresh 
troops.  Heth's  division  would  have  paid  dearly 
for  their  shoes  had  not  Ewell  learned  that 
morning  that  Hill  was  moving  toward  Gettys 
burg  and  headed  his  column  in  that  direction, 
and  had  not  Rhodes,  whose  division  was  in  the 
lead,  caught  the  sound  of  guns  and  pushed  for 
ward,  "making  his  dispositions"  for  the  battle 
as  he  hurried  on.  Even  when  he  reached  the 
field  he  found  the  force  before  him  so  strong 
that  he  was  glad  to  hold  his  own,  and  it  was 
not  until  Early  reached  the  field  and  put  in  his 
division  on  the  left  that  they  forced  back  the 
enemy's  right,  as  Fender,  rushing  to  Heth's  re 
lief,  made  good  his  advance  and  the  enemy  were 
driven  in  disorder  from  the  field,  through  the 
town  and  on  beyond  to  the  heights  where  one  of 


182  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

Steinwehr's  brigades  of  the  Eleventh  Corps  lay 
in  reserve.  It  was  a  stubborn  and  bloody  con 
flict,  with  from  twenty-two  thousand  to  twenty- 
four  thousand  men  on  either  side,  and  while  it 
resulted  in  a  clear  victory  for  the  Confederate 
troops,  who  not  only  swept  the  field  but  capt 
ured  some  5,000  prisoners,  the  loss  on  both 
sides  was  heavy.  General  Lee,  who  was  an  eye 
witness  of  the  victory,  sent  his  adjutant-general 
with  a  message  to  Ewell  to  say  that  "from  the 
position  he  occupied  he  could  see  the  enemy 
retreating  over  those  hills  without  organization 
and  in  great  confusion,  and  that  it  was  only 
necessary  to  press  those  people  in  order  to  se 
cure  possession  of  the  heights  and  that,  if  pos 
sible,  he  wished  him  to  do  this."  *  General 
Ewell,  however,  "deemed  it  unwise  to  make  the 
pursuit,"  for  fear,  probably,  as  Taylor  con 
jectures,  of  bringing  on  a  general  engagement. 
However  this  was,  the  pursuit  was  not  pressed, 
though  Gordon,  who  was  in  the  full  tide  of 
victory,  required  three  or  four  orders  "of  the 
most  peremptory  character"  before  he  stayed 
his  eager  troops. 

Ewell  halted  his  men  on  the  field,  and  that 
night  the  Federals  fortified  the  heights  and  as 
new  troops  came  pouring  in  by  forced  marches, 

*  Taylor's  "General  Lee,"  p.  190. 


GETTYSBURG  183 

the  lines  were  rapidly  strengthened  with  en 
trenchments.  At  this  time  the  commanding 
position  of  Gulp's  Hill  was  unoccupied.  Han 
cock  states  that  he  ordered  Wadsworth's  division 
and  a  battery  to  take  position  there  in  the 
afternoon.  But  two  of  Ewell's  staff  officers 
reported  to  him  that  they  were  on  the  hill  at 
dark. 

Meade,  at  Taneytown,  Maryland,  thirteen 
miles  away,  with  the  Second  Corps,  received 
Hancock's  report  of  the  situation  that  after 
noon,  and,  issuing  orders  with  a  promptness 
which  bore  rich  fruit,  he  marched  for  the 
heights  commanding  the  battlefield,  where  he 
arrived  at  i  in  the  morning.  There  was  discus 
sion  as  to  the  availability  of  the  position  and 
Meade  at  one  time  thought  of  withdrawing 
from  it.  The  Fifth  Corps,  that  evening,  was  at 
Union  Mills,  twenty-three  miles  away,  and  the 
Sixth  Corps  was  at  Manchester,  thirty-four 
to  thirty-six  miles  away.  Lee's  army  lay  close 
to  the  battle-field,  and  might  attack  before  his 
troops  got  up  or  might  interpose  between  him 
and  Washington.*  Longstreet  says  he  himself 
opposed  further  fighting  there. 

Lee,  however,  was  ready  for  the  fight  and  be 
lieved  he  could  destroy  Meade  in  detail.  He 

*  Meade  to  Halleck.    Dispatch,  2  p.  M.,  July  2,  1863. 


1 84  ROBERT  E,   LEE 

had  a  talk  with  Longstreet  on  Seminary  Ridge 
that  afternoon  at  5  o'clock,  and  that  evening  he 
held  a  conference  in  the  captured  town  of  Get 
tysburg  with  Ewell,  Early  and  Rhodes;  where  it 
was  determined  that  Longstreet,  whose  troops 
were  only  four  miles  away,  should  begin  the 
battle  in  the  morning,  by  seizing  the  com 
manding  positions  on  the  enemy's  left  and  thus 
be  enabled  to  enfilade  Meade's  flank,  while  he 
was  attacked  by  Hill  and  Early.  Lee  left  the 
conference  to  give  the  order,  and  that  night 
told  General  Wm.  N.  Pendleton,  his  chief  of 
artillery,  that  he  "had  ordered  General  Long- 
street  to  attack  on  the  flank  at  sunrise  next 
morning."  *  At  daybreak  Lee  himself  was 
ready  and  waiting  for  the  battle  to  begin;  but 
Longstreet,  who  the  evening  before  had  been 
averse  to  attacking,  says  he  sought  him  out 
again  at  daybreak  and  renewed  his  views 
against  making  the  attack  on  this  side,  an  ex 
postulation  which  caused  Lee  to  send  a  staff 
officer  to  Ewell  to  ascertain  whether,  after  exam 
ining  the  position  by  daylight,  he  could  not 
attack.  The  position  in  front  of  Ewell  was, 
however,  now  too  strongly  fortified  to  make  an 
assault  possible,  and  Meade  in  contemplation  of 

*  "Life  of  General  Wm.  N.  Pendleton,"  by  S.  P.  Lee. 
Fitzhugh  Lee's  "Lee." 


GETTYSBURG  185 

assuming  the  offensive,  was  massing  his  forces 
there.  Lee  even  then  rode  himself  to  confer 
with  Ewell,  but  finding  what  the  situation  was, 
adhered  to  his  original  decision  and  ordered 
Longstreet  at  n  o'clock  to  attack  as  already 
directed. 

Even  then,  however,  Longstreet  held  back — 
whether  from  obstinacy  and  refractoriness,  or 
because  "his  heart  was  not  in  it"  longer,  or 
because  he  felt  the  situation  hopeless — the  two 
former  of  which  reasons  have  been  charged 
against  him,  and  the  last  of  which  has  been 
claimed  by  him,  has  ever  been  a  question  hotly 
debated.  However  it  was,  though  his  troops, 
except  one  brigade,  Law's,  were  encamped  close 
to  the  battlefield,  he  failed  to  move  until  half 
the  day  had  been  lost,  because,  as  he  said,  he 
hated  to  go  into  battle  with  one  boot  off;  and 
when  he  moved,  Round  Top  was  fully  protected. 
Meade  had  changed  his  plan  of  attacking  with 
his  right  and  had  strengthened  his  left;  Sedg- 
wick's  corps,  the  Sixth,  had  come  up  after  an 
epoch-making  march  of  thirty-six  miles  since 
9  o'clock  the  night  before  and  was  in  position 
while  Longstreet  sulked  and  dawdled  with  his 
eager  troops  awaiting  orders  on  the  edge  of  the 
battlefield. 

Even  as  it  was,  in  the  furious  battle  which 


i86  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

took  place  that  afternoon  when  Longstreet  at 
last  began  to  fight,  Lee  seized  Big  Round  Top, 
held  it  for  some  time,  and  passed  beyond  it; 
turned  Sickles's  left  and  made  a  lodgment  on 
Little  Round  Top,  behind  which  Sedgwick's 
Sixth  Corps,  white  with  the  dust  of  their  thirty- 
six  miles  march,  was  massed  on  the  Taneytown 
road;  which  Meade  declared  "the  key-point 
of  his  whole  position/'  and  held  it  with  his 
brave  Alabamians  until  driven  back  by  the  Fifth 
Corps,  massed  for  the  purpose,  and  this,  if 
held,  would,  Meade  states,  "have  prevented  him 
from  holding  any  of  the  ground  he  subse 
quently  held  to  the  last."  At  nightfall  Lee  had 
secured  possession  of  the  important  position 
known  as  "The  Devil's  Den,"  the  Ridge  on  the 
Emmitsburg  Pike,  made  lodgment  on  the  bases 
of  both  Round  Tops;  made  an  impression  on 
the  Federal  centre,  and  had  occupied  a  portion 
of  the  works  on  the  Federal  right.*  It  was 
enough  to  lead  Lee  to  report  that  the  conditions 
"induced  the  belief,  that  with  proper  concert  of 
action,  and  with  the  increased  support  that  the 
positions  gained  on  the  right  would  enable  the 
artillery  to  render  the  assaulting  columns,  we 

*  Cf.  Fitzhugh  Lee's  "Life  of  Lee." 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Henderson's  Review  of  General  Long- 
street's  "From  Manassas  to  Appomattox,"  cited  ante;  General 
Humphrey's  "Gettysburg  Campaign." 


GETTYSBURG  187 

should  ultimately  succeed,  and  it  was  accord 
ingly  determined  to  continue  the  attack."  * 

Longstreet  at  Gettysburg  is  a  subject  that  few 
Southerners  can  contemplate  with  philosophic 
calm.  It  used  to  be  common  soon  after  the  war 
for  old  Confederate  officers  to  declare  that  he 
should  have  been  shot  immediately  after  the 
battle,  and  that  Napoleon  would  certainly  have 
done  so.  But  Lee  was  cast  in  a  different  mould. 
Of  all  his  army  he  possibly  knew  most  fully 
how  absolutely  Longstreet  had  frustrated  his 
plans,  and  certainly  of  all  he  treated  him  with 
most  leniency.  But  while  he  was  assuming  the 
burden  of  the  responsibility  and  wrote  Long- 
street  the  affectionate  letters  of  an  old  brother 
in  arms  who  knew  his  worth  and  overlooked  his 
errors,  Longstreet,  with  what  was  not  far  from 
ingratitude,  was  placing  on  Lee  the  blame  for 
his  own  shortcoming  and  was  claiming  that  had 
he  been  allowed  to  dictate  the  plan  of  the  cam 
paign  the  result  would  have  been  different. 

After  General  Lee  was  in  his  honored  grave, 
Longstreet  published  his  own  defence,  in  which  he 
undertook  to  prove  that  Lee  had  made  eleven 
grave  errors  in  the  precipitation  and  conduct  of 
the  battle  of  Gettysburg.  He  says  that  he  op 
posed  fighting  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  and  that 

*  Lee's  Report. 


188  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

when  he,  on  the  evening  of  the  ist,  gave  his 
opinion  to  General  Lee  that  they  could  not 
have  called  the  enemy  to  a  position  better 
suited  to  their  plans,  and  that  all  they  had  to  do 
was  to  file  round  his  left  and  secure  good  ground 
between  him  and  his  capital,  he  was  astonished 
at  Lee's  impatience,  and  his  vehement  declara 
tion,  "If  he  is  there  to-morrow,  I  will  attack 
him,"  and  thereupon  he  observes,  "His  des 
perate  mood  was  painfully  evident  and  gave 
rise  to  serious  apprehensions."  All  of  which 
was  written  long  afterward  and  as  a  defence 
against  the  quite  general  and  serious  criticism 
of  his  own  conduct  as  the  cause  of  Lee's  failure. 
But  why  should  Lee  have  been  in  a  desperate 
mood  ?  He  had  an  army  on  which  he  knew  he 
could  count  to  do  anything  if  they  were  prop 
erly  led.  He  had  gone  into  the  North  to  fight; 
he  had  just  seen  a  part  of  his  force  roll  two  fine 
army  corps,  fighting  furiously,  back  through  the 
town  and  over  the  heights,  in  confusion,  leaving 
in  his  hands  5,000  captives,  and  he  knew  that 
the  bulk  of  the  Federal  army  was  from  four  to 
nine  times  as  far  from  the  field  as  his  own  corps. 
His  reason  for  fighting  next  morning  was, 
therefore,  not  his  desperation,  but  his  appar 
ently  well-grounded  hope  that  he  should  win  a 
battle  before  Meade  could  concentrate,  and 


GETTYSBURG  189 

then  be  in  a  position  to  force  terms.  His  posi 
tion  has  commended  itself  to  clear-headed  sol 
diers  since,*  and  the  criticism  of  it  is  retroactive 
and  based  on  events  which  should  not  have 
occurred  and  in  all  human  probability  would 
not,  but  for  Longstreet's  slowness  if  not  his 
bull-headedness. 

Lee,  as  he  waited  next  morning  for  Long- 
street  to  move  forward,  gave  Hood,  who  had 
been  on  the  ground  since  daybreak,  his  chief 
reason  for  fighting.  "The  enemy  is  here,"  he 
said,  "and  if  we  don't  whip  him  he  will  whip 
us."  It  was  a  sound  reason  and  has  been  ap 
proved  by  good  critics,  and  had  Longstreet  not 
dallied  or  sulked  for  more  than  half  the  day,  it 
might  have  been  justified  before  dark  fell  on 
the  night  of  the  2d  of  July.  As  we  see  Long- 
street,  fooling  away  the  hours  while  spade  and 
shovel  rang  along  the  green  crest  piling  up  the 
earthworks,  and  while  Sedgwick's  Sixth  Corps, 
hot-footed,  pushed  along  the  dusty  roads,  telling 
off  the  long  miles  hour  after  hour,  we  may  well 
understand  how  different  the  result  would  have 
been  had  but  Stonewall  Jackson  commanded 
that  day  the  bronzed  and  eager  divisions  lying  all 

*  Lieutenant-Colonel  G.  F.  R.  Henderson's  review  of  Long- 
street's  "From  Manassas  to  Appomattox."  "Journal  of  Royal 
United  States  Inst.,"  October,  1897. 


190  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

morning  with  stacked  arms  awaiting  orders. 
Doubtless  it  was  this  that  was  in  Lee's  mind 
when,  long  afterward,  he  said,  "If  I  had  had 
Jackson  at  Gettysburg,  as  far  as  human  reason 
can  see,  I  should  have  won  a  great  victory." 

The  next  day  Lee  assaulted  and  was  repelled 
in  what  is  known  to  soldiers  as  the  third  day's 
battle;  but  his  defeat  was  accomplished  in  the 
first  half  of  the  preceding  day,  when  Longstreet 
failed  to  carry  out  his  orders,  and  the  golden 
opportunity  was  lost. 

As  the  scope  of  this  discussion  includes  only 
the  question  of  Lee's  ability  as  a  general  in 
offensive  operations,  it  is  not  within  its  province 
to  go  further  into  the  details  of  this  great  battle, 
except  to  show  that  on  this  day  Longstreet 
again  delayed  and  faltered,  and  that  this  time 
his  slowness  destroyed  finally  all  possibility  of 
success.  This  cannot  be  better  shown  than  by 
quoting  from  the  illuminating  review  of  his  book 
by  Lieutenant-Colonel,  afterward  Brigadier- 
General,  G.  F.  R.  Henderson,  already  cited. 

"His  conduct  on  the  third  day,"  declares  this 
critic,  "opens  up  a  still  graver  issue.  The  First 
Army  Corps  when  at  length,  on  the  afternoon 
of  July  2d,  it  was  permitted  to  attack,  had 
achieved  a  distinct  success.  The  enemy  was 
driven  back  to  his  main  position  with  enormous 


GETTYSBURG  191 

loss.  On  the  morning  of  July  3d,  Lee  deter 
mined  to  assault  that  position  in  front  and  flank, 
simultaneously;  and,  according  to  his  chief  of 
the  staff,  Longstreet's  corps  was  to  make  the 
main  attack  on  the  centre,  while  the  Second 
Corps  attacked  the  right.  But  again  there  was 
delay,  and  this  time  it  was  fatal.  .  .  .  We  may 
note  that  according  to  Longstreet's  own  testi 
mony  the  order  (to  attack)  was  given  soon  after 
sunrise,  and  yet,  although  the  Second  Corps 
attacking  the  Federal  right  became  engaged  at 
daylight,  it  was  not  until  I  P.  M.,  eight  hours 
later,  that  the  artillery  of  the  First  Corps 
opened  fire,  and  not  till  2  P.  M.  that  the  infantry 
advanced.  Their  assault  was  absolutely  iso 
lated.  The  Second  Corps  had  already  been 
beaten  back.  The  Third  Corps,  although  a 
division  who  were  ready  to  move  to  any  point 
to  which  Longstreet  might  indicate,  was  not 
called  upon  for  assistance.  Two  divisions  of 
his  own  corps,  posted  on  the  right  flank,  did 
absolutely  nothing,  and  after  a  supremely  gal 
lant  effort  the  15,000  men  who  were  hurled 
against  the  front  of  the  Federal  army,  and  some 
of  whom  actually  penetrated  the  position,  were 
repulsed  with  fearful  slaughter." 

After  discussing  in  detail  Longstreet's  tactics 
and   action,  this  thoughtful  critic   adds:    "But 


192  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

the  crucial  question  is  this:  Why  did  he  delay 
his  attack  for  eight  hours,  during  which  time  the 
Second  Corps  with  which  he  was  to  cooperate 
was  heavily  engaged  ?  If  he  moved  only  under 
compulsion,  if  he  deliberately  forebore  to  use 
his  best  efforts  to  carry  out  Lee's  design,  and  to 
compel  him  to  adopt  his  own,  the  case  is  very 
different.  That  he  did  so  seems  perfectly  clear." 
"If  Lee  was  to  blame  at  all  in  the  Gettysburg 
campaign,"  adds  Henderson,  "it  was  in  taking 
as  his  second  in  command  a  general  who  was  so 
completely  indifferent  to  the  claim  of  discipline." 
Had  Lee's  orders  been  obeyed,  he  would 
probably  have  won  the  battle  of  Gettysburg. 
He  must  have  won  it  on  the  2d  of  July,  when 
he  had  ua  fine  opportunity  of  dealing  with  the 
enemy  in  detail";  he  might  have  won  it  even 
on  the  3d.  But  fate,  that  decides  the  issues  of 
nations,  decreed  otherwise.  The  crown  of  Ceme 
tery  Ridge,  seized  and  held  for  twenty  minutes 
by  that  devoted  band  of  gray-clad  heroes,  marks 
the  highest  tide,  not  of  Confederate  valor  but 
of  Confederate  hope.  Even  so,  it  appeared  at 
first  but  a  drawn  battle.  The  Army  of  North 
ern  Virginia  had  struck  Meade  so  terrible  a 
blow  that,  as  Halleck  testified  before  the  Com 
mission  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War,  a  council 
was  held  to  decide  whether  they  should  retreat. 


GETTYSBURG  193 

All  that  day  the  two  armies  lay  on  the  opposite 
hills  like  spent  lions  nursing  their  wounds, 
neither  of  them  able  to  attack  the  other.  Next 
day,  Lee,  with  ammunition-chests  nearly  ex 
hausted,  fell  slowly  back  to  the  Potomac,  cautious 
ly  followed  by  his  antagonist,  and  after  waiting 
quietly  for  its  swollen  waters  to  subside  recrossed 
into  Virginia.  It  was  a  defeat,  for  Lee  had  failed 
of  his  purpose.  But  it  was  a  defeat  which  bare 
ly  touches  his  fame  as  a  captain.  No  other 
captain  or  army  in  history  might  have  done 
more. 

The  gallant  and  high-minded  Meade  was  a 
little  later  superseded  by  his  Government  in 
favor  of  the  victorious  Grant  and  loyally  served 
under  him  as  commander  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  to  the  end;  but  at  the  South,  neither 
Lee  nor  his  heroic  army  ever  stood  higher  with 
the  authorities  or  the  southern  people.  His 
very  defeat  seems  even  now  but  the  pedestal 
for  a  more  exalted  heroism.  With  a  magna 
nimity  too  sublime  for  common  men  wholly  to 
appreciate,  he  took  all  the  blame  for  the  failure 
on  himself.  History  has  traversed  his  unselfish 
statement  and  has  placed  the  blame  where  it  just 
ly  belongs :  on  those  who  failed  to  carry  out  the 
plan  his  genius  had  conceived. 

Moved  possibly  by  the  criticism  of  the  oppo- 


194  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

sition  press,  for  there  was  ever  a  hostile  and 
intractable  press  attacking  the  Government 
of  the  Confederacy  and  reviling  all  its  works, 
Lee  wrote  to  Mr.  Davis  and  proposed  that  he 
should  be  relieved  by  some  younger  and  possibly 
more  efficient  man.  His  bodily  strength  was 
failing,  he  said,  and  he  was  dependent  on  the 
eyes  of  others.  Mr.  Davis  promptly  reassured 
him  in  a  letter  which  goes  far  to  explain  the 
personal  loyalty  to  him,  not  only  of  Lee,  but  of 
the  South. 

These  letters  give  a  picture  of  the  two  men  in 
their  relation  to  each  other  and  to  the  cause 
they  represented,  and  should  be  read  in  full  by 
all  who  would  understand  the  character  of  the 
two  leaders  of  the  Confederacy. 

Lee's  letter  was  as  follows: 

CAMP  ORANGE,  August  5,  1863. 

MR.  PRESIDENT: 

Your  letters  of  the  28th  of  July  and  2d  of 
August  have  been  received,  and  I  have  waited 
for  a  leisure  hour  to  reply,  but  I  fear  that  will 
never  come.  I  am  extremely  obliged  to  you  for 
the  attention  given  to  the  wants  of  this  Army, 
and  the  efforts  made  to  supply  them.  Our  ab 
sentees  are  returning,  and  I  hope  the  earnest 
and  beautiful  appeal  made  to  the  country  in 


GETTYSBURG  195 

your  proclamation  may  stir  up  the  whole  people 
and  that  they  may  see  their  duty  and  perform 
it.  Nothing  is  wanted  but  that  their  fortitude 
should  equal  their  bravery  to  insure  the  suc 
cess  of  our  cause.  We  must  expect  reverses, 
even  defeats.  They  are  sent  to  teach  us  wisdom 
and  prudence,  to  call  forth  greater  energies, 
and  to  prevent  our  falling  into  greater  disasters. 
Our  people  have  only  to  be  true  and  united,  to 
bear  manfully  the  misfortunes  incident  to  war, 
and  all  will  come  right  in  the  end.  I  know  how 
prone  we  are  to  censure,  and  how  ready  to 
blame  others  for  the  non-fulfilment  of  our  ex 
pectations.  This  is  unbecoming  in  a  generous 
people,  and  I  grieve  at  its  expression.  The 
general  remedy  for  the  want  of  success  in  a 
military  commander  is  his  removal.  This  is 
natural,  and  in  many  instances  proper;  for  no 
matter  what  may  be  the  ability  of  the  officer,  if 
he  loses  the  confidence  of  his  troops,  disaster 
must  sooner  or  later  ensue. 

I  have  been  prompted  by  these  reflections 
more  than  once  since  my  return  from  Penn 
sylvania  to  propose  to  your  Excellency  the  pro 
priety  of  selecting  another  commander  for  this 
Army.  I  have  seen  and  heard  of  expressions  of 
discontent  in  the  public  journals  as  the  result  of 
the  expedition.  I  do  not  know  how  far  this 


196  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

feeling  extends  to  the  Army.  My  brother  offi 
cers  have  been  too  kind  to  report  it,  and  so  far 
the  troops  have  been  too  generous  to  exhibit  it. 
It  is  fair,  however,  to  suppose  that  it  does  exist, 
and  success  is  so  necessary  to  us  that  nothing 
should  be  left  undone  to  secure  it.  I,  therefore, 
in  all  sincerity,  request  your  Excellency  to  take 
measures  to  supply  my  place.  I  do  this  with  the 
more  earnestness,  because  no  one  is  more  aware 
than  myself  of  my  inability  to  discharge  the 
duties  of  my  position.  I  cannot  even  accom 
plish  what  I  myself  desire.  How  can  I  fulfil  the 
expectations  of  others  ?  In  addition,  I  sensibly 
feel  the  growing  failure  of  my  bodily  strength. 
I  have  not  yet  recovered  from  the  attack  I  ex 
perienced  the  past  spring.  I  am  becoming 
more  and  more  incapable  of  exertion,  and  am 
thus  prevented  from  making  the  personal  ex 
amination,  and  giving  the  supervision  to  the 
operations  in  the  field  which  I  feel  to  be 
necessary.  I  am  so  dull,  that  in  undertaking 
to  use  the  eyes  of  others  I  am  frequently 
misled. 

Everything,  therefore,  points  to  the  advantage 
to  be  derived  from  a  new  commander,  and  I 
the  more  anxiously  urge  the  matter  upon  your 
Excellency  from  my  belief  that  a  younger  and 
abler  man  than  myself  can  be  readily  obtained. 


GETTYSBURG  197 

I  know  that  he  will  have  as  gallant  and  brave  an 
army  as  ever  existed  to  second  his  efforts,  and 
it  would  be  the  happiest  day  of  my  life  to  see  at 
its  head  a  worthy  leader — one  that  would  ac 
complish  more  than  I  can  perform  and  all  that 
I  have  wished.  I  hope  your  Excellency  will 
attribute  my  request  to  the  true  reason — the 
desire  to  serve  my  country  and  to  do  all  in  my 
power  to  insure  the  success  of  her  righteous 
cause. 

I  have  no  complaints  to  make  of  any  one  but 
myself.  I  have  received  nothing  but  kindness 
from  those  above  me,  and  the  most  considerate 
attention  from  my  comrades  and  companions  in 
arms.  To  your  Excellency  I  am  specially  in 
debted  for  uniform  kindness  and  consideration. 
You  have  done  everything  in  your  power  to  aid 
me  in  the  work  committed  to  my  charge  with 
out  omitting  anything  to  promote  the  general 
welfare.  I  pray  that  your  efforts  may  at  length 
be  crowned  with  success,  and  that  you  may  long 
live  to  enjoy  the  thanks  of  a  grateful  people. 
With  sentiments  of  great  esteem,  I  am, 

Very  respectfully  and  truly  yours, 
R.  E.  LEE. 

General. 

His  Excellency  Jefferson  Davis,  President  Con 
federate  States. 


198  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

To  this  letter  President  Davis  sent  the  follow 
ing  reply: 

RICHMOND,  VA.,  August  n,  1863. 

GEN.  R.  E.  LEE,  Commanding  Army  of  North 
ern  Virginia: 

Yours  of  the  8th  inst.  has  just  been  received. 
I  am  glad  that  you  concur  so  entirely  with  me 
as  to  the  wants  of  our  country  in  this  trying 
hour,  and  am  happy  to  add  that  after  the  first 
depression  consequent  upon  our  disasters  in  the 
West,  indications  have  appeared  that  our  peo 
ple  will  exhibit  that  fortitude  which  we  agree 
in  believing  is  alone  needed  to  secure  ultimate 
success. 

It  well  became  Sydney  Johnston  when  over 
whelmed  by  a  senseless  clamor  to  admit  the 
rule  that  success  is  the  test  of  merit;  and  yet 
there  has  been  nothing  which  I  have  found  to 
require  a  greater  effort  of  patience  than  to  bear 
the  criticisms  of  the  ignorant  who  pronounce 
everything  a  failure  which  does  not  equal  their  ex 
pectations  or  desires,  and  can  see  no  good  result 
which  is  not  in  the  line  of  their  own  imaginings. 

I  admit  the  propriety  of  your  conclusions  that 
an  officer  who  loses  the  confidence  of  his  troops 
should  have  his  position  changed,  whatever  may 
be  his  ability;  but  when  I  read  the  sentence  I 


GETTYSBURG  199 

was  not  at  all  prepared  for  the  application  you 
were  about  to  make.  Expressions  of  discontent 
in  the  public  journals  furnish  but  little  evidence 
of  the  sentiment  of  the  army.  I  wish  it  were 
otherwise,  even  though  all  the  abuse  of  myself 
should  be  accepted  as  the  results  of  honest  ob 
servation.  Were  you  capable  of  stooping  to  it, 
you  could  easily  surround  yourself  with  those 
who  would  fill  the  press  with  your  laudations, 
and  seek  to  exalt  you  for  what  you  had  not  done, 
rather  than  detract  from  the  achievements 
which  will  make  you  and  your  army  the  subject 
of  history  and  the  object  of  the  world's  admira 
tion  for  generations  to  come. 

I  am  truly  sorry  to  know  that  you  still  feel  the 
effects  of  the  illness  you  suffered  last  spring,  and 
can  readily  understand  the  embarrassments  you 
experience  in  using  the  eyes  of  others,  having 
been  so  much  accustomed  to  make  your  own 
reconnaissances.  Practice  will,  however,  do 
much  to  relieve  that  embarrassment,  and  the 
minute  knowledge  of  the  country  which  you 
have  acquired  will  render  you  less  dependent 
for  topographical  information. 

But  suppose,  my  dear  friend,  that  I  were  to 
admit,  with  all  their  implications,  the  points 
which  you  present,  where  am  I  to  find  the  new 
commander  who  is  to  possess  the  greater  ability 


200  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

which  you  believe  to  be  required  ?  I  do  not 
doubt  the  readiness  with  which  you  would  give 
way  to  one  who  could  accomplish  all  that  you 
have  wished,  and  you  will  do  me  the  justice  to 
believe  that  if  Providence  should  kindly  offer 
such  a  person  for  our  use  I  would  not  hesitate 
to  avail  myself  of  his  services. 

My  sight  is  not  sufficiently  penetrating  to  dis 
cover  such  hidden  merit,  if  it  exists,  and  I  have 
but  used  to  you  the  language  of  sober  earnest 
ness  when  I  have  impressed  upon  you  the  pro 
priety  of  avoiding  all  unnecessary  exposure  to 
danger,  because  I  felt  our  country  could  not 
bear  to  lose  you.  To  ask  me  to  substitute  for 
you  some  one,  in  my  judgment,  more  fit  to  com 
mand  or  who  would  possess  more  of  the  confi 
dence  of  the  Army  or  of  the  reflecting  men  of 
the  country,  is  to  demand  an  impossibility.  It 
only  remains  for  me  to  hope  that  you  will  take 
all  possible  care  of  yourself,  that  your  health 
and  strength  will  be  entirely  restored,  and  that 
the  Lord  will  preserve  you  for  the  important 
duties  devolved  upon  you  in  the  struggle  of  our 
suffering  country  for  the  independence  which 
we  have  engaged  in  war  to  maintain. 

As  ever, 

Very  respectfully  and  truly, 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS 


GETTYSBURG  201 

With  these  letters  to  portray  the  character  of 
Lee,  history  will  endorse  with  its  infallible  pen 
what  the  President  of  the  Confederacy  wrote: 
There  was  no  better  man  to  take  his  place. 

Though  Lee  failed  of  final  success,  to  the 
student  of  history  who  weighs  opportunities 
and  compares  resources,  this  in  no  wise  mars  his 
fame.  He  lay  in  the  face  of  the  enemy  twenty- 
four  hours  and  then,  with  the  swollen  Potomac 
at  his  back,  brought  off  his  army  intact  and 
undisspirited  and  proceeded  to  prepare  for  the 
next  campaign.  Indeed,  with  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  in  his  front,  he  sent  two  divisions  under 
Longstreet  to  reinforce  Bragg  and  defeat  Rose- 
crans  at  Chickamauga.  When  Meade  crossed 
the  Rappahannock  into  Culpeper,  Lee  ma 
noeuvred  so  threateningly  that  Meade  retired, 
and  only  the  lack  of  shoes  and  equipment 
prevented  Lee  from  again  crossing  the  Po 
tomac.* 

The  chief  disaster  of  Gettysburg  lay  not  so 
much  in  the  first  repulse  of  the  intrepid  lines, 
which,  in  the  face  of  a  constantly  increasing 
storm  of  shot  and  shell,  swept  across  that  deadly 
plain  and  on  up  the  flaming  slopes  of  Cemetery 

*  Letter  to  Mrs.  Lee,  Oct.  19,  1863.  Fitzhugh  Lee's  "Lee," 
P-  317- 


202  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

Ridge  and  Little  Round  Top,  as  in  the  conse 
quences  which  were  soon  disclosed. 

The  North  was  enabled  to  recruit  her  armies 
by  drafting  all  the  men  she  needed,  and  her 
command  of  the  sea  gave  her  Europe  as  a  re 
cruiting  ground.  On  October  17,  1863,  the 
President  of  the  United  States  ordered  a  draft 
for  300,000  men.  On  February  I,  1864,  he 
called  for  500,000,  allowing  a  deduction  for 
quotas  filled  under  the  preceding  draft;  and  on 
March  14,  1864,  he  issued  an  additional  call  for 
200,000  more,  "to  provide  an  additional  reserve 
for  all  contingencies."  * 

The  South  was  almost  spent.  Her  spirit  was 
unquenched,  and  was,  indeed,  unquenchable; 
but  her  resources  both  of  treasure  and  men  were 
well-nigh  exhausted.  Her  levies  for  reserves 
of  all  men  between  fifteen  and  sixty  drew  from 
President  Davis  the  lament  that  she  was  grind 
ing  the  seed-corn  of  the  Confederacy.  Yet  more 
significantly  it  satisfied  the  new  General,  who, 
with  his  laurels  fresh  from  the  dearly  won  heights 


*  Under  the  first  call  369,380  men  were  drawn,  of  whom  52,- 
288  paid  commutation;  under  the  second  259,575  men  were 
drawn,  of  whom  32,678  paid  commutation.  Again  on  July  18, 
1864,  a  call  was  made  for  500,000  more  men,  of  whom  385,163 
were  furnished;  and  on  December  19,  1864,  300,000  more  were 
called  for  and  211,755  were  furnished. — Rhodes's  "History," 
Vol.  IV,  p.  429,  citing  "  Statistical  Rec.  Phisterer,"  pp.  6,  8,  9. 


GETTYSBURG  203 

of  Missionary  Ridge,  succeeded  (on  March  12,) 
the  high-minded  Meade,  in  the  command  of  the 
Union  Army  on  the  Potomac,  that  a  policy  of 
attrition  was  one,  and  possibly  the  only  one,  which 
must  win  in  the  end.  Clear-headed,  aggressive, 
and  able,  he  began  his  campaign  with  this  policy 
from  which  he  never  varied,  though  the  attrition 
wore  away  two  men  in  his  own  ranks  for  every 
one  in  Lee's  army,  and  he  found  himself  forced 
to  abandon  the  line  which  he  somewhat  boast 
fully  declared  he  would  fight  it  out  on  if  it  took 
all  summer. 

Grant,  acting  on  his  policy  of  "persistent 
hammering"  (a  phrase  coined  by  him  after  the 
events  which  proved  its  effectiveness),  and 
assured  of  vast  levies  and  of  a  free  hand  to  carry 
out  his  plan  on  his  own  line,  no  matter  what  the 
cost,  crossed  the  Rapidan  on  the  night  of  the 
3d  of  May,  1864.  His  army  numbered  over 
140,000  men  of  all  arms — double  the  number 
that  Lee  commanded — and  he  had  318  field 
guns.  His  equipment  was  possibly  the  best  that 
any  army  could  boast  that  ever  took  the  field. 
His  baggage  train  would,  as  he  states,  have 
stretched  in  line  to  Richmond,  sixty  odd  miles 
away. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN 

TF  Grant  had  harbored  any  delusion  that  Lee 
was  a  general  strong  only  in  defensive  opera 
tions,  he  had  reason  quickly  to  be  undeceived. 
Lee,  who  for  reasons  of  his  own,  had  permitted 
him  to  cross  the  river  unopposed,  waited  until 
he  had  reached  the  tangles  of  the  Wilderness, 
where  his  superiority  in  men  and  arms  might 
prove  less  preponderant,  and  two  days  later, 
having  called  in  his  widely  separated  divisions, 
— separated  for  the  want  of  subsistence — though 
he  was  outnumbered  two  to  one  *  he  threw  him 
self  upon  him,  inflicting  upon  him  losses  be 
fore  which  any  other  general  who  had  yet  com 
manded  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  would  have 
recrossed  the  river,  and  even  Grant  recoiled. 
For  two  days  (the  5th  and  6th)  the  battle  raged, 
and  Lee  forced  Grant,  with  losses  of  17,666 
men,f  from  his  direct  line  of  march  and  led  him 

*  Rhodes's  "History  of  The  United  States/'  IV,  p.  480.     Hum 
phrey's  Va.  Campaign  of  '64  and  '65,  p.  17. 

t  The  Century  Co.'s  "Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War," 
IV,  p.  182. 

204 


THE  WILDERNESS  CAMPAIGN       205 

to  call  on  his  Government  for  reinforcements. 
"  Send  to  Belle  Plain,"  he  wrote  on  the  loth,  "  all 
the  infantry  you  can  rake  and  scrape."  And  he 
needed  them  all.  On  the  evening  of  the  second 
day  an  attack  similar  to  Jackson's  at  Chancel- 
lorsville  was  made  on  Grant's  flank,  and  his  left 
taken  in  reverse  was  driven  back  when  an  acci 
dent  similar  to  that  which  changed  the  issue  of 
that  day  changed  this  day's  issue.  As  Long- 
street,  who  commanded  the  advancing  troops, 
rode  down  the  plank-road  accompanied  by 
Generals  Kershaw  and  Jenkins,  a  volley  was 
poured  into  them  by  his  own  men,  and  Jenkins 
was  killed  and  Longstreet  dangerously  wounded. 
It  stopped  the  movement  which  otherwise  might 
have  forced  Grant  back  across  the  Rapidan. 
Lee's  forces  were  largely  outnumbered,  but  to 
make  good  the  difference  Lee  offered  at  more 
than  one  critical  moment  to  lead  them  in  person. 
Officers  and  men  alike  refused  to  advance  while 
he  remained  at  a  point  of  danger,  and  he  was 
forced  to  the  rear.  But  not  only  in  the  battle  of 
the  6th,  but  also  in  the  battle  of  the  loth  and  in 
the  furious  fight  at  the  "bloody  angle,"  where, 
when  his  army  was  imperilled,  he  again  rode  for 
ward  to  inspire  his  straining  troops  and  was 
again  driven  by  them  to  the  rear,  the  fact  that 
he  had  felt  it  necessary  to  place  himself  at  their 


206  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

head  called  forth  new  efforts  from  the  jaded 
soldiers  and  stirred  them  to  redoubled  valor. 

"These  men,  General,"  said  Gordon,  as  he 
rode  with  him  down  the  lines  at  Spottsylvania, 
where  they  rested  for  a  moment  prior  to  the  final 
charge,  "are  the  brave  Virginians."  Lee  ut 
tered  no  word.  He  simply  removed  his  hat  and 
passed  bare-headed  along  the  line.  I  had  it 
from  one  who  witnessed  the  act.  "It  was," 
said  he,  "the  most  eloquent  address  ever  deliv 
ered."  And  a  few  minutes  later  as  the  men  ad 
vanced  to  the  charge,  he  heard  a  youth,  as  he  ran 
forward  crying  and  reloading  his  musket,  shout 
through  his  tears  that  "any  man  who  would  not 
fight  after  what  General  Lee  said  was  a  — 
coward." 

In  no  battle  of  the  war  did  Lee's  genius  shine 
forth  more  brightly  than  in  the  great  battle  of 
Spottsylvania  Court  House,  where,  after  the 
bloody  battle  of  the  Wilderness,  he  divined 
Grant's  plans,  and  again  cutting  him  off  from 
the  object  of  his  desire,  threw  himself  upon  him 
in  a  battle  whose  fury  may  be  gauged  by  the 
fact  that  the  musketry  fire  continued  in  one  un 
broken  roar  for  seventeen  hours,  and  large  trees 
were  shorn  down  by  the  musket  balls. 

By  the  evening  of  the  yth,  while  his  staff  were 
yet  in  darkness  as  to  Grant's  next  move,  Lee, 


THE  WILDERNESS   CAMPAIGN       207 

with  his  unerring  sense  of  the  soldier,  had  di 
vined  it,  and  he  sent  General  Anderson  with  his 
division  to  relieve  Stuart  at  Spottsylvania.* 
His  adjutant-general,  who  was  sent  to  apprise 
Stuart  of  the  approach  of  the  infantry,  found 
him  already  engaged.  The  supports  arrived 
just  in  time;  for  the  cavalry  had  been  driven 
back,  and  Grant  already  occupied  the  Court 
House,  as  he  reported  in  his  dispatch  of  the  8th. 
But  Lee's  promptness  "deranged  this  part  of 
the  programme,"  driving  him  back  and  holding 
him  off  during  a  week's  fierce  fighting,  when 
Grant,  having  lost  40,000  men,  finding  his 
enemy  too  obstinate  and  ready  to  die  in  the  last 
ditch,  drew  off  by  the  flank,  toward  the  south 
ward,  whereupon  Lee  again  headed  him  and 
facing  him  at  Hanover  Junction,  forced  him 
down  the  north  bank  of  the  Pamunkey  to  Han 
over  town. 

"Before  the  lines  of  Spottsylvania,"  says 
Swinton,  "the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  for 
twelve  days  and  nights  engaged  in  a  fierce 
wrestle  in  which  it  had  done  all  that  valor  may 
do  to  carry  a  position  by  nature  and  art  impreg 
nable.  In  this  contest,  unparalleled  in  its  con 
tinuous  fury  and  swelling  to  the  proportions  of 
a  campaign,  language  is  inadequate  to  convey 

*  Taylor's  "General  Lee,"  p.  238. 


2o8  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

an  impression  of  the  labors,  fatigues  and  suffer 
ings  of  those  who  fought  by  day,  only  to  march 
by  night  from  point  to  point  of  the  long  line, 
and  renew  the  fight  on  the  morrow.  Above  forty 
thousand  men  had  already  fallen  in  the  bloody 
encounters  of  the  Wilderness  and  Spottsylvania, 
and  the  exhausted  army  began  to  lose  its  spirits." 

Such  was  the  defence  which  Lee  presented 
to  his  able  antagonist,  and  his  great  army,  after 
the  exhaustion  of  the  hungry  winter  of 'sixty- four. 
Had  he  not  been  ill  and  half  delirious  in  his  am 
bulance  when  Grant  attempted  to  cross  the 
North  Anna  and  failed  to  get  his  centre  over 
after  his  two  wings  were  across,  Grant's  star 
might  have  set  on  the  banks  of  the  North  Anna 
instead  of  rising  to  its  zenith  at  Appomattox. 
But  Lee  was  suddenly  stricken  down,  and  while 
he  was  murmuring  in  his  semi-delirium,  "We 
must  strike  them — we  must  never  let  them  pass 
us  again,"  Grant,  after  the  most  anxious  night  of 
the  war,  drew  back  his  wings  and  slowly  moved 
down  the  Pamunkey  to  find  Lee  still  across  his 
path  at  the  historic  levels  of  Cold  Harbor,  where 
valor  and  constancy  rose  to  their  highest  point. 

"I  stood  recently  in  the  wood  where  Gregg's 
Texans  put  on  immortality,"  wrote  a  Southern 
historian;  "where  Kershaw  led  three  of  his  bri 
gades  in  person  to  compensate  them  for  the  ab- 


THE  WILDERNESS   CAMPAIGN       209 

sence  of  the  fourth."*  It  was  this  need  to  com 
pensate  their  troops  for  want  of  reserves  or 
equipment  which  so  often  led  the  generals  of 
the  Confederacy  to  the  firing  line.  But  it  was 
a  costly  expedient.  Four  times,  in  what  ap 
peared  the  very  hour  of  complete  victory,  the 
prize  was  stricken  from  the  hand  by  the  com 
mander  being  shot  from  his  saddle.  First, 
when  General  Albert  Sydney  Johnston  was 
slain  at  Shiloh,  in  the  moment  of  victory.  Next, 
when  at  Seven  Pines  Joseph  E.  Johnston  was 
struck  from  his  horse,  and  what  might  have 
proved  a  crushing  defeat  for  McClellan  was 
turned  into  an  indecisive  battle.  Again,  when 
Jackson  was  driving  all  before  him  at  Chancel- 
lorsville,  and  fell  like  WolfF,  victorious.  And, 
finally,  when  in  the  Wilderness  Longstreet  was 
wounded  and  incapacitated  at  the  critical  mo 
ment  when  victory  hovered  over  his  arms. 

It  is  related  that  on  one  occasion,  Lee,  being 
asked  by  his  staff  to  leave  during  a  battle  one 
spot  after  another  where  he  had  posted  himself, 
finally  exclaimed,  "I  wish  I  knew  where  my 
place  is  on  the  battlefield.  Wherever  I  go  some 
one  tells  me  it  is  not  the  place  for  me." 

In  fact,  so  far  from  Lee  being  chiefly  good  in 

*  Leigh  Robinson's  Address  on  the  Wilderness  Campaign, 
Memorial  Volume:  Army  of  Northern  Virginia. 


210  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

defence,  the  quality  of  his  military  spirit  ap 
pears  to  one  who  studies  his  career  to  have 
been  distinctly  aggressive,  possibly  even  too 
aggressive.  No  captain  ever  knew  better  the 
value  of  a  quarter  of  an  hour  or  the  importance 
of  striking  first  when  the  enemy  was  preparing 
to  deliver  his  blow.  In  truth,  he  was  an  ardent 
fighter,  and  possessed  in  an  extraordinary 
degree  the  qualities  of  both  physical  and  moral 
courage.  Lee's  personal  daring  was  the  talk 
of  his  army.  "I  hear  on  all  sides  of  your  ex 
posing  yourself,"  wrote  one  of  his  sons  during 
the  Wilderness  campaign,  urging  him  to  be  more 
careful  for  the  sake  of  the  cause.  And  again 
and  again,  at  some  moment  of  supreme  crisis, 
as  at  the  "bloody  angle" at  Spottsylvania,  which 
Grant  had  seized  and  where  he  was  massing 
his  picked  troops  to  the  number  of  50,000,  he 
rode  forward  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  ex 
hausted  troops  to  lead  them  in  a  charge  on 
which  hung  the  fate  of  his  army.  Yet,  as  Hen 
derson  says  in  discussing  Lee's  audacity  in  at 
tacking  with  an  inferior  force  McClellan's  well- 
equipped  army,  secure  in  their  entrenchments, 
"he  was  no  hare-brained  leader,  but  a  profound 
thinker,  following  the  highest  principles  of  the 
military  art."  That  this  will  be  the  final  verdict 
of  History  there  can  be  little  doubt. 


THE  WILDERNESS   CAMPAIGN       211 

After  crossing  the  Rapidan  the  advance  of 
Grant  by  the  flank  was  under  almost  continu 
ous  attack  by  Lee.  "Measured  by  casualties," 
says  Rhodes,  in  his  history  of  this  campaign, 
"the  advantage  was  with  the  Confederates." 
This  far  from  expresses  the  real  fact  that  Grant 
received  a  drubbing  which,  as  Lee's  Adjutant- 
General,  Colonel  Walter  H.  Taylor,  said  the 
next  day  in  his  note-book,  would  have  sent  any 
other  general  who  had  hitherto  commanded  the 
Union  Army  back  in  haste  across  the  river. 
It  was  Grant's  fortitude  which  saved  him,  and 
led  him  to  tell  General  James  H.  Wilson  that 
he  would  fight  again.  As  Lee  had  assaulted 
at  the  Wilderness,  so  again  at  Spottsylvania  he 
barred  the  way  of  his  indomitable  antagonist, 
and  again  and  again  forced  the  fighting,  until, 
after  holding  him  at  the  North  Anna,  where  he 
offered  battle,  he  had  wedged  Grant  from  his 
direct  march  on  Richmond  and  forced  him 
down  the  left  bank  of  the  Pamunkey,  to  end  his 
direct  march  on  Richmond  at  last  on  the  doubly 
bloody  field  of  Cold  Harbor,  the  only  battle 
which  Grant  declared  afterward  he  would  not 
have  fought  over  again  under  the  same  circum 
stances. 

Foiled  in  that  campaign  of  his  immediate  ob 
ject,  and  having  lost  more  men  than  Lee  had 


212  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

at  any  time  in  his  entire  army,  Grant  adopted 
a  new  line  of  attack,  and  secretly  crossing  to  the 
south  side  of  the  James,  which  he  might  at  any 
time  have  reached  by  water  without  the  loss  of  a 
man,  attempted  to  seize  Petersburg,  as  McClel- 
lan  had  planned  to  do,  by  a  coup,  but,  failing  in 
his  object,  began  to  lay  siege  to  that  place  with 
a  view  to  cutting  off  Richmond  from  the  South, 
a  feat  which  he  only  accomplished  after  eight 
months'  fighting,  in  which  he  lost  over  60,000 
more  men. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

LEE   AND    GRANT 

"^JECESSARILY  a  comparison  arises  between 
the  two   captains   who   confronted    each 
other  in  this  great  campaign  of  1864. 

Grant's  fame,  when  he  was  made  lieutenant- 
general  and  came  into  Virginia,  rested  on  the 
three  great  feats  of  Donelson,  Vicksburg  and 
Missionary  Ridge.  And  to  these  three  a  fourth 
was  added  a  year  later,  when  at  Appomattox, 
Lee,  on  the  Qth  of  April,  1865,  surrendered  to 
him  the  starving  remnant  of  the  Army  of  North 
ern  Virginia,  which  the  exigencies  of  the  Con 
federacy  had  held  before  Petersburg  as  in  a  vise 
till  it  had  slowly  perished.  Current  history  has 
chosen  to  assign  to  Grant  the  greater  praise  for 
this  last  campaign,  partly  because  he  finally 
crushed  Lee,  but  chiefly  because  it  ended  the 
war.  And  possibly  the  lasting  fame  of  the  suc 
cessful  captain  will  be  based  chiefly  on  this.  It 
may  be  well,  however,  to  recall  the  simple,  but 
often  overlooked,  principle,  that  while  success  is 
without  doubt  the  gauge  of  a  general's  ability, 

213 


2i4  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

this  does  not  necessarily  mean  final  success. 
History  shines  with  the  names  of  generals  who 
have  failed  at  last  and  have  yet  borne  off  the 
palm  in  the  great  contest  in  which  Fame  is  the 
reward.  Hannibal  was  not  the  less  the  superior 
of  Scipio  Africanus  because  the  latter  finally 
conquered  him  and  saved  Rome.  Charles  XII. 
was  not  the  less  a  greater  captain  than  Peter's 
forgotten  general  because  the  latter  drove  him 
from  Russia  to  seek  an  asylum  in  Turkey.  Nor 
was  Napoleon  inferior  to  Wellington  though  he 
died  defeated  and  a  prisoner,  while  Wellington 
became  prime  minister  and  first  citizen  of  the 
England  he  had  been  so  capable  and  fortunate 
as  to  save. 

A  captain's  rank  must  be  measured  by  his 
opportunities  and  the  manner  in  which  he  uses 
them.  That  Grant  was  a  general  of  rare  abil 
ity,  clear-headed,  capable,  far-sighted,  single- 
minded,  prompt,  resourceful,  resolute  even  to 
obstinacy,  no  one  who  studies  his  campaigns 
will  deny;  that  he  was  the  equal  of  Lee  in  that 
high  combination  of  these  and  other  qualities 
which  go  to  make  up  the  greatest  soldier,  no 
one  who  studies  with  open  mind  the  campaign 
of  1864  may  successfully  affirm. 

The  heroic  manner  in  which  Lee  with  his 
half-starved  veterans  sustained  the  repeated 


LEE  AND  GRANT  215 

shocks  of  the  "  persistent  hammering  "  of  Grant's 
great  army  through  so  long  a  period  must  ever 
be  a  cause  of  wonder  to  the  true  student  of  his 
tory,  and  the  key  will  only  be  found  by  him 
who,  looking  beyond  mere  natural  forces,  shall 
consider  the  power  that,  springing  from  love  of 
country,  animates  the  breast  of  those  who,  firm 
in  their  conviction  of  right,  fight  on  their  own 
soil  for  their  homes  and  their  firesides.  Study 
of  the  subject  has,  at  least,  convinced  one  writer, 
who  has  desired  to  give  the  truth  and  nothing 
but  the  truth,  that  never  has  there  been  such  an 
army  led  by  such  a  leader.  Grant's  persistent 
hammering,  as  attritive  as  it  was,  was  far  less  so 
than  the  attrition  of  hunger  and  want.  Lee, 
who  early  in  the  war  had  sighed  for  a  force  of 
veteran  troops  to  whom  to  confide  the  trust,  had 
long  been  at  the  head  of  the  most  experienced 
veterans  who  ever  fought  on  American  soil. 
He  believed  in  his  soul  that  they  would  go  any 
where  where  properly  led.  But  he  was  too 
clear-eyed  a  soldier  not  to  know  that  the  most 
veteran  legions  that  ever  followed  the  eagles  of 
Rome  or  France  or  the  flag  of  the  Confederacy 
must  be  shod  and  fed  or  they  could  not  fight. 
From  the  first  there  had  been  difficulty  in  the 
equipment  of  the  troops,  owing  to  the  absence 
of  manufactories  of  even  elementary  articles. 


216  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

The  arms  were  largely  of  the  oldest  and  most 
obsolete  kind;  and  many  troops  were  armed 
with  old  muskets  roughly  changed  from  flint 
locks  to  percussion;  saddles  were  wanting  to 
the  cavalry,  and  swords  were  made  on  country 
forges.*  Artillery  had  to  be  mounted  on  farm 
wagons;  f  and  uniforms  were  woven  on  coun 
try  looms.  This  deficiency  was  in  time  partially 
overcome  by  captures  from  the  enemy,  and  by 
blockade-running;  but  the  matter  of  subsistence 
of  the  army  was  one  which  always  caused  grave 
alarm  and  serious  and,  at  last,  fatal  trouble. 
The  means  of  transportation  were  so  limited 
that  any  break  in  even  one  line  of  railway  was 
a  perilous  loss  and  the  absence  of  manufactories 
contributed  to  frustrate  Lee's  boldest  designs. 

In  October,  1863,  after  Gettysburg,  Lee 
writes  of  his  troops :  "  If  they  had  been  properly 
provided  with  clothes  I  would  certainly  have 
endeavored  to  have  thrown  them  north  of  the 
Potomac;  but  thousands  were  barefooted; 
thousands  with  fragments  of  shoes,  and  all 
without  coats,  blankets  or  warm  clothing.  I 
could  not  bear  to  expose  them  to  certain  suffer 
ing  on  an  uncertain  issue."  J 

*  "Life  of  Forrest,"  by  Dr.  John  A.  Wyeth. 

t  "Life  of  General  Wm.  N.  Pendleton,"  by  S.  P.  Lee. 

t  Letter  to  Mrs.  Lee,  October  19,  1863. 


LEE  AND  GRANT  217 

Again  on  October  28th  he  writes  to  his  wife: 
"I  am  glad  you  have  some  socks  for  the  Army. 
Send  them  to  me.  Tell  the  girls  to  send  all 
they  can.  I  wish  they  could  make  some  shoes, 
too.  We  have  thousands  of  barefooted  men. 
There  is  no  news.  General  Meade,  I  believe, 
is  repairing  the  railroads  and  I  presume  will 
come  on  again.  If  I  could  only  get  some  shoes 
and  clothes  for  the  men  I  would  save  him  the 
trouble." 

In  the  preceding  winter,  lying  before  Fred- 
ericksburg,  he  writes  that  his  army  is  suffering 
so  that  he  "may  have  to  yield  to  a  stronger 
force  than  General  Burnside." 

Could  anything  be  more  tragic  than  this  gen 
eral  bound  in  his  trenches  by  the  nakedness  of 
his  army,  while  his  opponent  prepared  to  over 
whelm  him!  Or  could  anything  be  more  pa 
thetic  than  this  general  of  an  army  acting  as  re 
ceiver  of  a  few  dozen  pairs  of  socks  knitted  for 
his  barefooted  army  by  his  invalid  wife!  Not 
merely  here,  but  from  now  on  he  acts  as  dis 
penser  of  the  socks  knitted  by  her  busy  needles. 
Truly,  the  South  may  well  point  with  pride  to 
her  gifted  son,  who  in  his  head-quarters  in  a 
"nice  pine  thicket,"  showed  such  antique  sim 
plicity  of  character. 

An  historian  of  the  Wilderness  campaign,  in 


218  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

a  remarkable  study  of  that  campaign,  has  called 
attention  to  an  unconsciously  pathetic  phrase 
used  by  Lee  in  relation  to  his  cavalry:  Now 
that  "the  grass  is  springing,"  he  says  he  hopes 
to  be  able  to  use  his  cavalry  effectively.* 

By  the  beginning  of  the  year  1864,  the  sub 
sistence  of  the  army  had  become  almost  impos 
sible.  "Many  of  the  infantry,"  writes  General 
Lee  in  an  official  communication,  "are  without 
shoes,  and  the  cavalry  worn  down  by  the  pur 
suit  of  Averill.  We  are  now  issuing  to  the  troops 
a  fourth  of  a  pound  of  salt  meat,  and  have  only 
three  days'  supply  at  that  rate.  Two  droves  of 
cattle  from  the  West  that  were  reported  to  be 
for  this  army,  I  am  told  have  been  directed  to 
Richmond.  I  can  learn  of  no  supply  of  meat  on 
the  road  to  the  army,  and  fear  I  shall  be  unable 
to  retain  it  in  the  field."  f 

In  another  official  letter  to  the  Commissary- 
General,  he  writes:  "I  regret  very  much  to 
learn  that  the  supply  of  beef  for  the  army  is  so 
nearly  exhausted.  .  .  .  No  beef  has  been  issued 
to  the  cavalry  corps  by  the  chief  commissary 
that  I  am  aware  of  for  eighteen  months.  Dur 
ing  that  time  it  has  supplied  itself,  and  has  now, 

*  Leigh   Robinson  in   the  Memorial  Volume  of  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia. 

f  Letter  to  President  Davis,  January  2,  1864. 


LEE  AND  GRANT  219 

I  understand,  sufficient  to  last  until  the  middle 
of  February."  * 

Two  weeks  later  he  writes  the  Quarter 
master-General  as  follows:  "General:  The 
want  of  shoes  and  blankets  in  this  army  con 
tinues  to  cause  much  suffering  and  to  impair  its 
efficiency.  In  one  regiment  I  am  informed  there 
are  only  fifty  men  with  serviceable  shoes,  and  a 
brigade  that  recently  went  on  picket  was  com 
pelled  to  leave  several  hundred  men  in  camp 
that  were  unable  to  bear  the  exposure  of  duty, 
being  destitute  of  shoes  and  blankets. "j* 

He  thereupon  urges  that  instead  of  trusting 
to  the  precarious  supplies  procured  by  running 
the  blockade,  the  South  should  spare  no  efforts 
to  develop  her  own  resources. 

But  the  time  had  passed  when  the  South  could 
develop  her  resources,  and  it  was  soon  to  come 
when  even  the  precarious  supply  by  blockade- 
running  was  to  cease  altogether. 

On  the  24th  of  January  he  wrote  his  wife: 

1   .  .  .  I  have  had  to  disperse  the  cavalry  as 

much    as    possible   to   obtain   forage   for   their 

horses,    and    it   is   that  which   causes   trouble. 

Provisions  for  the  men,  too,  are  very  scarce,  and 

*  Letter  to  Colonel  L.  B.  Northrop,  Commissary-General, 
January  5,  1864. 

f  Letter  to  Brigadier-General  R.  A.  Lawton,  Quartermaster 
General,  January  18,  1864. 


220  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

with  very  light  diet  and  light  clothing  I  fear 
they  suffer.  But  still  they  are  cheerful  and  un 
complaining.  I  received  a  report  from  one  di 
vision  the  other  day  in  which  it  stated  that  over 
four  hundred  men  were  barefooted  and  over  one 
thousand  without  blankets.  .  .  ." 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  army  in  the 
depth  of  the  winter  of  1863-1864,  and  it  steadily 
grew  worse.  By  the  opening  of  spring  Lee  stood 
face  to  face  with  the  gravest  problem  that  can 
confront  a  general,  the  impossibility  of  subsisting 
his  army,  and  moreover  his  own  strength  was 
waning,  although  he  was  yet  to  put  forth  the 
supreme  effort  which  was  to  make  his  defence 
of  Virginia  against  Grant  possibly  the  greatest 
defensive  campaign  in  history.  In  a  letter  to 
his  eldest  son,  expressing  his  hearty  acquiescence 
in  an  order  substituting  a  chief  engineer  in  place 
of  his  son  for  whom  he  had  applied,  wishing 
to  make  him  chief  of  staff,  he  says:  "I  thought 
that  position  presented  less  objections  to  your 
serving  with  me  than  any  other.  ...  I  want 
all  the  aid  I  can  get,  now.  I  feel  a  marked 
change  in  my  strength  since  my  attack  last  spring 
at  Fredericksburg,  and  am  less  competent  for 
my  duty  than  ever."  * 

All    through    the    spring,    with    undimmed 

*  Letter  of  April  6,  1864. 


LEE  AND  GRANT  221 

vision,  he  had  foreseen  the  tragic  fate  awaiting 
him,  and  his  letters  show  plainly  how  clear  this 
vision  was,  yet  never  once  does  he  show  aught 
but  the  same  heroic  constancy  which  had  dis 
tinguished  him  in  the  past.  "  In  none  of  them," 
says  Long,  "does  he  show  a  symptom  of  de 
spair,  or  breathe  a  thought  of  giving  up  the  con 
test.  To  the  last,  he  remained  full  of  resources, 
energetic  and  defiant,  and  ready  to  bear  on  his 
own  shoulders  the  whole  burden  of  the  conduct 
of  the  war."  * 

In  March,  when  lying  opposite  Grant's  great 
army  on  the  Rapidan,  he  wrote  the  President  of 
the  indication  that  Grant  was  concentrating  a 
great  force  to  operate  in  Virginia.  And  on 
April  6th,  he  writes  of  the  great  efforts  that, 
according  to  all  the  information  he  received, 
were  to  be  made  in  Virginia.  A  week  later  he 
writes  him  again: 

HEAD-QUARTERS,  April  12,  1864. 

MR.  PRESIDENT:  My  anxiety  on  the  subject 
of  provisions  for  the  Army  is  so  great  that  I  can 
not  refrain  from  expressing  it  to  your  Excellency. 
I  cannot  see  how  we  can  operate  with  our  pres 
ent  supplies.  Any  derangement  in  their  arrival, 
or  disaster  to  the  Railroad,  would  render  it  im- 

*  Long's  "Lee." 


222  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

possible  for  me  to  keep  the  Army  together,  and 
might  force  a  retreat  into  North  Carolina. 
There  is  nothing  to  be  had  in  this  section  for 
men  or  animals.  We  have  rations  for  the 
troops  to-day  and  to-morrow.  .  .  .  Every  ex 
ertion  should  be  made  to  supply  the  depots  at 
Richmond  and  at  other  points.  ...  I  am, 
with  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

R.  E.  LEE,  General. 

Three  weeks  later  in  a  letter  stating  the 
movements  of  Grant's  troops  along  the  Rappa- 
hannock,  and  the  signs  of  "large  preparations 
on  the  part  of  the  enemy  and  a  state  of  readi 
ness  for  action,"  he  adds,  "If  I  could  get  back 
Pickett,  Hoke  and  B.  R.  Johnson,  I  would  feel 
strong  enough  to  operate.  ...  I  cannot  get 
the  troops  together  for  want  of  forage  and 
am  looking  for  grass."  It  was  a  tragic  situa 
tion.  Three  days  later,  on  the  night  of  May  3, 
1864,  Grant  crossed  the  Rapidan  with  an 
army  of  over  140,000  men,  many  of  them  vet 
eran  troops,  as  brave  men  as  ever  carried  a 
musket — armed  and  equipped  in  a  manner 
unsurpassed,  if  equalled,  in  the  annals  of  war, 
officered  by  the  flower  of  the  North.  He 
had  also  318  guns  and  a  wagon-train  that, 
stretched  in  a  line,  would  have  reached  to 


LEE  AND  GRANT  223 

Richmond.*  He  controlled,  with  the  aid  of  the 
exceedingly  efficient  navy,  the  York  and  the 
James  to  Dutch  Gap,  where  Butler  lay  with 
an  army  which  could  spare  him  10,000  men, 
to  help  in  the  deadly  assaults  at  Cold  Harbor, 
and  a  few  days  later  could  carry  the  formi 
dable  outer  defences  of  Petersburg. 

To  meet  this  force,  Lee  had  62,000  men  and 
but  224  guns.  His  army  was  less  efficiently 
armed  and  with  an  equipment  which  would  have 
been  hopelessly  insufficient  for  any  other  army 
than  the  one  he  commanded:  the  war-worn 
veterans  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia, 
inured  to  hunger  and  hardship  and  battle. 

On  the  I2th  day  of  June,  when  Grant  crossed 
the  James  to  the  south  side,  of  the  140,000  men 
who  had  crossed  the  Rapidan  one  month  and 
nine  days  before  he  had  lost  60,000  men, 
almost  as  many  men  as  Lee  had  had  during 
the  campaign.  On  the  Qth  of  April  follow 
ing,  when  Lee  surrendered,  Grant's  losses  had 
mounted  up  to  124,000,  two  men  for  every  man 
that  Lee  had  in  his  army  at  any  time.  By  this 
record  judge  the  two  captains. 

*  "The  Army  immediately  opposed  to  Lee  numbered,  when  it 
crossed  the  Rapidan,  on  May  4th,  1864,  149,166  men.  While  Lee 
had  within  call  62,000,  but  with  only  half  that  number  he  moved 
on  and  attacked  Grant's  army  in  the  Wilderness."  Jones's  "Life 
and  Letters  of  R.  E.  Lee,"  p.  310. 


224  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

The  adverse  criticism  of  Grant  as  a  captain 
of  the  first  rank  is  based  on  the  charge  that  he 
sacrificed  over  50,000  men  to  reach  the  James, 
when  he  might  have  reached  the  south  side  of 
James  River  and  laid  siege  to  Petersburg  and 
Richmond  without  the  loss  of  a  man.*  As  to 
whether,  had  he  done  this,  he  could  have  suc 
ceeded  in  the  destruction  of  Lee's  army,  the  im 
pregnable  defence  of  the  Confederate  Capital, 
can  never  be  known.  It  was  necessary  for  him 
not  only  to  defeat  Lee,  but  at  the  same  time  pro 
tect  Washington,  failure  to  do  which  had  cost 
McClellan  his  place.  His  policy  of  "  persistent 
hammering,"  no  matter  what  the  cost,  won  out 
in  the  end;  for  while  the  attrition  wore  away 
the  thin  gray  line,  which,  stretched  from  Rich 
mond  to  Petersburg,  ever  grew  thinner,  the 
drafts  for  the  ranks  of  the  Union  ever  grew 
larger. 

No  one  knew  so  well  as  Lee  the  disastrous 
consequences  of  this  policy  of  attrition.  From 
August  on  his  letters  express  plainly  his  recog- 

*  Grant's  losses,  from  May  4th,  when  he  crossed  the  Rapidan, 
to  June  1 2th,  when  staggering  back  from  Cold  Harbor  he  abandoned 
his  first  plan  of  attack  and  crossed  to  the  south  side  of  the  J  ames, 
was,  according  to  the  Union  authorities,  54,929.  (Rhodes's  "His 
tory,"  Vol.  IV,  p.  447.  The  Century  Co.'s  "  Battles  and  Leaders 
of  the  Civil  War,"  Vol.  IV,  p.  182.)  And  among  these  were  the 
flower  of  his  army,  as  gallant  officers  and  men  as  ever  faced  death 
on  a  battlefield. 


LEE  AND  GRANT  225 

nition  of  the  terrible  fact  that  his  army  was 
wearing  down  without  the  hope  of  his  losses 
being  repaired.*  His  soldierly  prevision  en 
abled  him  to  predict  precisely  what  afterward  oc 
curred:  the  extension  of  Grant's  lines  to  envelop 
him,  and  the  consequent  loss  of  Richmond,  f 

Applause  has  been  accorded  Grant  because 
he  slipped  away  from  Lee  and  crossed  to  the 
south  side  of  the  James  without  molestation. 
It  was  a  capital  piece  of  work.  In  truth,  how 
ever,  he  failed  absolutely  in  the  immediate  object 
of  this  movement:  the  securing,  as  he  wrote 
Halleck,  of  the  city  of  Petersburg,  by  a  coup 
before  the  Confederates  could  get  there  in  much 
force.  { 

The  design  of  Grant  to  capture  Petersburg, 
and  by  cutting  off  Richmond  from  the  South 
force  the  capitulation  of  the  Confederate  Capital, 
was  undoubtedly  able  strategy  and  why  it  had 
not  been  attempted  by  him  before  seems  even 
now  somewhat  singular,  for  McClellan  had  urged 
it  in  July  1862,  and  a  dash  had  been  made  to 
seize  Richmond  from  this  side  by  a  daring  raid 
which,  possibly,  had  failed  only  because  of  a  rise 
in  James  River  which  prevented  the  raiding  party 

*  Letter  to  Secretary  of  War,  August  23, 1864.  Letter  to  Presi 
dent  Davis,  September  2d,  1864. 

t  Letter  of  October  10,  1864,  W.  R.,  1144. 
t  Official  Records,  Vol.  XI,  pp.  i,  12. 


226  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

from  crossing;  and  the  mouth  of  the  Appomattox 
was  as  securely  in  the  hands  of  the  Union  as  the 
mouth  of  the  Delaware. 

Grant's  plan  to  seize  Petersburg  with  its 
slender  garrison  of  less  than  2,500  men  was, 
however,  foiled  by  Beauregard,  to  whom  on  his 
urgent  request  Lee  sent  men  from  the  north 
side  of  the  James,  and  though  Grant  was  en 
abled  to  seize  on  June  I5th  "the  formidable 
works  to  the  north-east  of  the  town,"  when  he 
attacked  in  force  on  three  successive  days  he 
was  repulsed  with  the  loss  of  10,000  men,  losses 
which  shook  and  disheartened  his  army  even 
more,  possibly,  than  the  slaughter  at  Cold 
Harbor. 

The  demoralization  consequent  on  Lee's 
victories  from  the  Wilderness  to  Petersburg, 
over  "the  crippled  Army  of  the  Potomac,"  which 
now  enabled  him  to  detach  Early  and,  with  a 
view  to  repeating  the  strategy  of  1862,  send  him 
to  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  followed  by  that  gen 
eral's  signal  success,  in  conjunction  with  Breck- 
inridge,  in  clearing  the  valley  of  Sigel  and 
Hunter,  and,  after  defeating  Wallace  at  Monoc- 
acy  Bridge,  in  immediately  threatening  Wash 
ington  itself,  sent  gold  up  to  285,  the  highest 
point  it  reached  during  the  war.* 

*Rhodes's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  IV,  p.  509. 


LEE  AND  GRANT  227 

The  authorities  in  Washington,  more  alarmed 
even  than  when  Lee  was  at  Sharpsburg  or  at 
Chambersburg,  were  clamoring  for  Grant  to 
come  and  assume  personal  command  of  the 
forces  protecting  the  city.  And  it  is  charged 
that  Grant  escaped  the  fate  of  his  predecessors 
only  because  there  was  no  one  else  to  put  in  his 
place.  It  was  even  charged  that  he  had  fallen 
"back  into  his  old  habits  of  intemperance,"  a 
charge  which  Mr.  Lincoln  dryly  dismissed  with 
a  witticism.* 

Congress,  by  resolution,  requested  the  Presi 
dent  "to  appoint  a  day  for  humiliation  and 
prayer,"  and  the  President,  "cordially  concurring 
...  in  the  pious  sentiments  expressed"  in  this 
resolution,  appointed  the  first  Thursday  in  Au 
gust  as  a  day  of  national  humiliation  and  prayer 

The  simple  truth  is  that,  against  great  out 
side  clamor,  Grant  was  sustained  by  the  au 
thorities  in  Washington  because  he  was  mani- 

*  "Despondency  and  discouragement,"  says  Rhodes,  the  latest 
and  among  the  most  thoughtful  of  all  the  Northern  historians  of 
the  war,  '  are  words  which  portray  the  state  of  feeling  at  the  North 
during  the  month  of  July,  and  the  closer  one's  knowledge  of  affairs, 
the  gloomier  was  his  view;  but  the  salient  facts  put  into  every 
one's  mind  the  pertinent  question,  '  Who  shall  revive  the  withered 
hopes  that  bloomed  on  the  opening  of  Grant's  campaign?'" 
This  question  he  quotes  from  the  New  York  World,  a  paper  which 
he  states  was  not  unfriendly  to  Grant.  "  History  of  the  United 
States,"  IV,  p.  507. 


228  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

festly  the  best  general  in  sight,  and  not  because 
he  had  proved  himself  the  equal  of  Lee. 

So  great  was  the  feeling  of  despondency  at 
the  North  at  this  time  that  several  serious,  if 
somewhat  informal,  embassies  were  sent  by  the 
authorities  at  Washington  to  ascertain  the  feel 
ing  of  the  Confederate  authorities  touching 
peace  on  the  basis  of  a  restoration  of  the  Union, 
coupled  at  first  with  a  condition  of  "  an  abandon 
ment  of  slavery,"  but  later  without  even  this 
condition. 

On  the  very  day  that  Mr.  Davis,  yielding  to 
clamor  at  the  South  against  the  Fabian  policy 
of  the  cautious  Johnston,  who  had  been  falling 
back  before  Sherman,  relieved  that  veteran  of 
ficer  of  his  command,  he  accorded  an  interview 
to  two  gentlemen,  who  had  come  on  an  irregular 
mission,  with  the  knowledge  and  consent  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  to  ask  whether  any  measure  could  be 
tried  that  might  lead  to  peace.  Mr.  Davis  re 
jected  the  proposal  to  make  peace,  unless  with 
it  came  the  acknowledgment  of  the  right  of  the 
South  to  self-government;  "and,"  declares  the 
historian  above  quoted,  "taking  into  account  the 
actual  military  situation,  a  different  attitude  on 
the  part  of  the  Richmond  Government  could  not 
have  been  expected."* 

*Rhodes's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  IV,  pp.  514-516. 


LEE  AND  GRANT  229 

In  truth,  it  was  not  until  long  afterward, 
and  after  it  was  found  that  the  resources  of  the 
South  were  exhausted,  that  Grant's  costly  policy 
of  attrition  was  accepted  by  the  Government  or 
the  people,  and  his  star  which  had  been  waning 
once  more  ascended.  That  it  ever  ascended 
again  was  due  in  part  to  his  constancy  of  pur 
pose,  and  for  the  rest,  to  successes  elsewhere  and 
to  the  exhaustion  of  the  South:  particularly  to 
the  destruction  of  the  means  of  communication. 

Viewed  in  the  cold  light  of  the  inexorable 
facts,  the  honors  at  this  time  were  all  with  the 
Confederate  general,  and  later  comparisons 
so  fulsome  to  Grant  and  so  invidious  to  Lee 
have  all  been  made  in  the  light  of  subsequent 
events,  over  which  neither  Grant  nor  Lee  ex 
ercised  control. 

Early  failed  to  seize  the  golden  moment  which 
presented  itself  on  July  nth  and  take  Wash 
ington,  if  indeed,  it  was  ever  possible  to  take  it. 
On  July  iyth,  the  day  Sherman  crossed  the 
Chattahoochee  and  began  his  direct  march 
on  Atlanta,  Johnston  was  relieved  from  the 
command  of  the  Southern  Army,  in  obedience 
to  popular  clamor,  at  the  moment  when,  if  his 
strategy  had  not  prepared  the  way  for  the  pos 
sible  destruction  of  the  invading  force,  the  vet 
eran  general  was,  at  least,  preparing  to  carry 


23o  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

out  the  consistent  plan  he  had  laid  down  from 
the  beginning.  His  army  was  placed  under  the 
command  of  the  daring  but  rash  Hood,  who, 
reversing  Johnston's  plan,  and  assuming  the  of 
fensive,  was  speedily  defeated,  thus  leaving  Sher 
man  free  to  devastate  the  South  and  close  the 
last  Southern  port  through  which  outside  sup 
plies  could  be  secured. 

No  step  could  have  given  more  aid  and  com 
fort  to  the  North,  or  have  been  more  disastrous 
to  the  South,  than  the  removal  of  Johnston. 
Abroad  it  satisfied  the  anxious  nations  of  Eu 
rope  that  the  South  was  at  her  last  gasp  and 
established  their  hitherto  vacillating  policy  in 
favor  of  the  Union  cause,  and  the  Southern 
cause  thereafter  steadily  declined  to  its  end. 

The  same  day  that  the  President  of  the  Con 
federate  States  removed  Joseph  E.  Johnston, 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  appalled 
at  the  effect  of  Lee's  masterly  defence  of  Rich 
mond,  issued  a  proclamation  calling  for  500,000 
men,  and  before  Grant  learned  of  this  call  he 
wrote  urging  a  draft  of  300,000  immediately.* 

Meantime,  Europe  had  changed  front.  The 
skilful  diplomacy  of  Charles  Francis  Adams 
had  prevented  the  delivery  to  the  Confederacy  of 
the  rams  which  had  been  built  for  her;  the  sym- 

*Rhodes's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  IV,  pp.  506-507. 


LEE  AND  GRANT  231 

pathies  of  the  European  nations  had  changed, 
and  the  South  was,  as  has  been  well  said  by 
the  son  and  namesake  of  the  able  diplomat  re 
ferred  to,  as  securely  shut  up  to  perish  as  if  she 
had  been  in  a  vast  vacuum.  The  victories  of 
diplomacy  are  little  considered  beside  those  of 
the  battlefield.  But,  taking  into  consideration 
what  the  Merrimac  had  accomplished  during 
her  brief  but  formidable  cruise  in  Hampton 
Roads,  where  she  sank  the  Cumberland,  capt 
ured  the  Congress's  crew  and  drove  the  famous 
Monitor  into  shoal  water,  it  is  probable  that  the 
blockade  of  the  Southern  ports  might  have  been 
broken  had  not  Mr.  Adams's  unremitting  efforts 
availed  to  prevent  the  Confederate  rams  being 
delivered. 

As  it  was,  the  end  was  clearly  in  view  to  Lee. 
The  destruction  of  Hood's  army  at  Nashville 
removed  the  only  force  capable  of  blocking  the 
way  of  Sherman  across  the  South,  and  left  him 
free  to  march  to  the  sea,  and,  having  got  in  touch 
with  the  fleet  there,  continue  through  the  Caro- 
linas,  marking  his  way  with  a  track  of  devasta 
tion  which  has  been  likened  to  that  made  when 
Saxe  carried  fire  and  sword  through  the  Pala 
tinate. 

Lee,  with  "Richmond  hung  like  a  millstone 
about  his  neck,"  a  figure  he  is  said  to  have  em- 


232  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

ployed,  was  forced  to  guard  a  line  extending 
from  the  south  of  Petersburg  to  the  north  of 
Richmond,  and  to  withstand  with  his  thinning 
ranks  his  able  antagonist  with  an  ever-growing 
army  and  an  ever-increasing  confidence. 

All  that  winter  Lee  lay  in  the  trenches,  while 
his  army  withered  and  perished  from  want  and 
cold,  and  while  Sherman,  almost  unopposed, 
burnt,  in  sheer  riot  of  destruction,  supplies  that 
might,  had  they  been  available,  have  subsisted 
that  army  for  ten  years,  and  yet  by  the  policy 
of  the  Confederate  Government  were  left  un 
protected. 

By  the  end  of  the  year  all  available  resources 
were  exhausted. 

On  the  nth  of  January,  1865,  Lee  sent  this 
dispatch  to  the  Secretary  of  War:  "Hon.  J.  A. 
Seddon,  there  is  nothing  within  reach  of  this 
army  to  be  impressed.  The  country  is  swept 
clear.  Our  only  reliance  is  upon  the  railroads. 
We  have  but  two  days'  supplies." 

R.  E.  LEE. 

A  few  weeks  later  he  telegraphed  again  to 
the  Secretary  of  War,  under  date  of  February 
8,  1865. 

SIR: 

All  the  disposable  force  of  the  right  wing  of 
the  army  has  been  operating  against  the  enemy 


LEE  AND  GRANT  233 

beyond  Hatcher's  Run  since  Sunday.  Yester 
day,  the  most  inclement  day  of  the  winter,  they 
had  to  be  retained  in  line  of  battle,  having  been 
in  the  same  condition  the  two  previous  days 
and  nights.  I  regret  to  be  obliged  to  state  that 
under  these  circumstances,  heightened  by  as 
saults  and  fire  of  the  enemy,  some  of  the  men 
had  been  without  meat  for  three  days,  and  all 
were  suffering  from  reduced  rations  and  scant 
clothing,  exposed  to  battle,  cold,  hail  and  sleet.  I 
have  directed  Colonel  Coler,  Chief  Commissary, 
who  reports  that  he  has  not  a  pound  of  meat  at 
his  disposal,  to  visit  Richmond  and  see  if  noth 
ing  can  be  done.  If  some  change  is  not  made 
and  the  Commissary  Department  reorganized, 
I  apprehend  dire  results.  The  physical  strength 
of  the  men,  if  their  courage  survives,  must  fail 
under  such  treatment.  Our  cavalry  has  to  be 
dispersed  for  want  of  forage.  Fitz  Lee's  and 
Lomax's  divisions  are  scattered  because  sup 
plies  cannot  be  transported  where  their  services 
are  required.  I  had  to  bring  Wm.  H.  F.  Lee's 
division  forty  miles  Sunday  night  to  get  him  in 
position.  Taking  these  facts  in  connection  with 
the  paucity  of  our  numbers  you  must  not  be 
surprised  if  calamity  befalls  us.  ... 

R.  E.  LEE, 

General. 


234  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

President  Davis  endorsed  on  this  report: 
"This  is  too  sad  to  be  patiently  considered  and 
cannot  have  occurred  without  criminal  neglect 
or  gross  incapacity.  .  .  . "  A  comment,  as  true 
to-day  as  when  Lee  set  before  him  plainly  the 
tragic  fact  that  his  army  was  fast  perishing  at 
its  post. 

Unfortunately  for  the  South,  the  rest  of  the 
President's  endorsement,  "Let  supplies  be  had 
by  purchase  or  borrowing  or  other  possible 
mode,"  was  inefficacious.  There  was  no  longer 
any  possible  mode  by  which  supplies  could  be 
had.  The  South  was  exhausted,  because  Vir 
ginia  had  been  swept  clean  and  there  were  no 
means  of  transporting  supplies  from  elsewhere. 

The  following  day  General  Lee  assumed  the 
office  of  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  military 
forces  of  the  Confederate  States  to  which  he 
had  been  appointed  on  the  6th;  but  it  was  too 
late.  He  had  already  carried  the  fortunes  of 
the  Confederacy  on  his  shoulders  for,  at  least, 
two  years  longer  than  the  Confederacy  could 
have  survived  without  his  genius  to  sustain  it; 
and  now  the  time  had  come  when  no  mortal 
power  could  longer  support  it.  Its  end  had 
come.  All  had  gone  except  the  indomitable 
and  immortal  spirit  of  its  people. 

Grant's   sagacious   disposition   of  his   forces, 


LEE  AND  GRANT  235 

together  with  his  command  of  the  Chesapeake 
and  its  great  tributaries,  enabled  him  to  threaten 
at  pleasure  either  of  the  two  cities.  With  his 
pontoon  bridge  across  the  James,  protected  by 
his  gunboats  and  veiled  by  his  heavy  entrench 
ments,  he  could  at  any  time  mass  a  sufficient 
number  of  troops  on  the  north  side  of  that  river 
to  cause  grave  anxiety  and  compel  Lee  to 
transfer  a  sufficient  force  from  before  Peters 
burg  to  withstand  him.  And,  at  the  same  time, 
he  could  still  retain  on  the  Appomattox  a  force 
superior  to  Lee's,  prepared  to  assault  Lee's 
depleted  lines  whenever  a  chance  presented 
itself. 

Yet,  for  nearly  ten  months  after  Grant's  first 
attempt  on  Petersburg,  Lee  held  him  at  bay.  And 
even  at  the  last  he  succumbed  not  so  much  to  the 
attacks  in  his  front,  as  to  the  failure  of  the  Con 
federate  Government  to  supply  his  troops  with 
the  necessaries  of  life — a  failure,  in  its  turn,  due 
to  the  perishing  or  the  destruction  of  all  means 
of  transportation.  His  reports  to  the  President 
of  the  Confederate  States  during  the  winter  set 
forth  plainly  the  impossibility  of  maintaining 
his  position  unless  subsistence  should  be  fur 
nished  his  troops.  But  subsistence  could  not 
be,  or,  at  least,  was  not,  furnished,  and  while  the 
sword  attacked  in  front,  hunger  assailed  in  the 


236  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

rear.  His  men  had,  he  wrote  the  War  Depart 
ment  in  February,  endured  all  that  flesh  and 
blood  could  endure.  In  the  battle-line  suffer 
ing  from  cold  and  exhaustion,  they  had  not  had 
meat  for  three  days.  No  wonder  that  his 
numbers  dwindled  and  that  his  tardy  elevation, 
in  February,  to  the  position  of  Commander-in- 
Chief  was  futile  to  recoup  the  destruction. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  RETREAT  TO  APPOMATTOX 

AS  a  sequel  to  these  far-reaching  conditions, 
^-  the  policy  of  attrition  simply  went  on  from 
month  to  month,  until  on  the  fatal  2d  of  April, 
Lee,  who  had  only  a  few  weeks  before  been 
made  Commander-in-Chief,  and  almost  whose 
first  act  had  been  the  reinstatement  of  John 
ston  in  his  command,  following  an  extension  of 
Grant's  lines  around  his  flank,  which  broke 
his  connection  with  the  South  and  threatened 
to  envelop  him,  announced  to  his  Government 
that  he  could  no  longer  maintain  the  long  line 
from  south  of  Petersburg  to  north  of  Richmond. 
On  the  ZQth  of  March,  as  he  was  preparing  to 
evacuate  Petersburg  and  start  south  to  unite 
with  Johnston  and  attack  Sherman,  Grant,  who 
was  apprehensive  of  such  a  movement,  began 
to  move  around  his  right  to  foil  it.  To  prevent 
this,  Lee  was  forced  to  withdraw  troops  from 
other  parts  of  his  line,  and  Grant  promptly 
proceeded  to  take  advantage  of  this  fact. 

On  the  ist  of  April,  following  a  repulse  on 
237 


238  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

the  evening  before  in  front  of  Lee's  extreme 
right,  Sheridan  attacked  and  defeated  at  Five 
Forks  Pickett,  who  had  left  a  long  gap  of  several 
miles  defended  only  by  pickets  between  his 
troops  and  the  nearest  line.  And  Grant,  having 
carried  Lee's  outer  defences,  ordered  a  general 
assault  for  the  next  day.  Lee,  knowing  the 
wasted  condition  of  his  army  and  the  impossi 
bility  of  holding  against  Grant's  contemplated 
assault  his  long-stretched  line,  decided  to  exe 
cute  at  once,  if  possible,  his  plan  to  abandon 
the  lines  he  had  held  for  nearly  ten  months  and 
move  southward  to  effect  a  junction  with  John 
ston.  He  notified  the  Government  in  Rich 
mond,  arranged  for  provisions  to  meet  him  at 
Amelia  Court  House,  and  that  night  executed 
with  consummate  skill  the  difficult  feat  of  extri 
cating  his  reduced  army  from  its  perilous  position 
and  started  on  a  retreat  southward. 

His  letters  show  his  entire  appreciation  of  the 
difficulty  and  peril  of  his  situation;  but  there  is 
not  a  trace  of  dismay  in  all  his  writing.  Never 
more  than  now,  when  he  made  his  last  move  in 
the  great  game  of  war,  did  the  mens  equa  in  ar- 
duis,  that  mark  of  noble  minds,  which  ever  dis- 
distinguished  him,  shine  forth  in  him. 

His  letter  to  his  wife,  on  the  eve  of  the  move 
ment  which  was  to  prove  the  closing  act  in  the 


THE   RETREAT  TO  APPOMATTOX  239 

great  drama  of  the  war,'  reflects  his  serenity 
amid  the  rising  difficulties  which  were  soon  to 
engulf  him.  He  thanks  her  for  the  socks  she  had 
knitted  for  his  barefooted  and  suffering  men;  en 
closes  for  her  a  life  of  General  Scott,  for  whom 
he  had  a  word  of  old-time  affection  and  esteem, 
and  commends  her  to  God. 

That  night  he  executed  successfully  the  diffi 
cult  movement  to  which  he  referred  and  with 
drew  his  hungry  troops  from  their  long-held 
and  historic  entrenchments. 

Some  historians,  who  under  the  natural  im 
pulse  to  laud  the  commanders  of  the  Union 
armies  yet  have  instinctively  felt  that  on  the 
plain  face  of  the  records  Lee  had  the  honors  as 
a  soldier,  have  undertaken  to  assert  that  "the 
conditions  were  not  unequal:  that  Lee  might 
have  withdrawn  his  army  and  effected  a  junction 
with  Johnston,  but  was  outgeneraled  by  Grant." 
To  support  this  claim  they  assign  to  Lee  the 
highest  number  of  men  that  by  any  computation 
could  possibly  be  assigned  to  him  and  take  no 
account  of  the  absent  and  the  disabled. 

The  latest  of  these  historians,  and  among 
the  most  broad-minded  of  the  class,  has  as 
signed  to  Lee  at  the  beginning  of  his  retreat 
49,000  men,  against  Grant's  113,000,  and  de 
clares  that  with  "the  game  escape  or  surrender 


24o  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

the  conditions  were  not  unequal,  and  Lee  was 
simply  outgeneraled."  * 

Conditions  not  unequal!  When  Grant,  as 
commander  of  all  the  Northern  armies,  had 
nearly  one  million  men  under  his  command, 
and  Lee,  as  commander  of  the  Southern  armies, 
had  less  than  two  hundred  thousand  under  his 
command;  and  when  Grant  had  a  great  navy 
to  support  and  transport  subsistence  for  his  ar 
mies,  and  Lee  had  no  navy  and  no  means  of  trans 
portation.  If  Lee  was  simply  outgeneraled  some 
change  must  have  taken  place  in  the  two  men, 
since,  with  an  army  never  more  than  ten  thou 
sand  in  excess  of  the  numbers  assigned  him 
here,f  Lee  fought  through  the  month  of  May, 
1864,  Grant's  army  of  140,000,  defeated  him  in 
battle  after  battle  from  the  Wilderness  to  Peters 
burg,  caused  him  losses  of  124,000  men,  and 
must  have  destroyed  him  but  for  his  inexhaust 
ible  resources  of  men  and  munition. 

But,  by  the  records,  the  statement  quoted  is 
erroneous,  and,  laying  aside  the  imperfect  records 
of  the  Confederate  Army,  the  evidence  is  beyond 
question  that  when  Lee  began  his  retreat  he  had 
only  about  half  of  the  number  of  men  assigned 

*  Rhodes's  "  History,"  Vol.  V. 

t  In  fact,  the  49,000  was  before  the  great  losses  at  the  end  of 
February. 


THE  RETREAT  TO  APPOMATTOX  241 

to  him  by  these  historians.  Colonel  Walter 
H.  Taylor,  of  his  staff,  estimates  that  Lee  had  on 
March  3ist  33,000  muskets,  and  General  Lee 
told  General  Fitz  Lee  that  he  had  at  that  time 
35,000  men;  "but  after  Five  Forks  and  in  the 
encounters  of  March  3ist,  April  ist  and  2d,  he 
had  only  20,000  muskets  available,  and  of  all 
arms  not  over  25,000,  when  he  began  the  retreat 
that  terminated  at  Appomattox  Court  House."* 

Whatever  may  be  the  numbers  shown  on 
records  scatteringly  made,  and,  at  best,  most  im 
perfect,  Lee's  statement  for  those  who  know  him 
settles  the  question. 

But  even  these  men  were  little  more  than 
spectres.  Ill-fed,  ill-clad,  kept  for  ten  months 
on  a  constant  strain  in  the  face  of  an  army  that 
might  at  any  time  mass  treble  their  number  on 
either  flank;  stretched  in  a  line  thirty-five  miles 
in  length,  every  point  of  which  it  was  vital  to 
hold;  wasted  by  hunger,  disease  and  cold,  these 
veterans  made  no  plea  of  being  outnumbered. 
Under  Lee  they  answered  every  demand  and 
held  Grant  at  bay  until  not  only  subsistence, 
but  hope  of  subsistence,  perished. 

Then,  as  Grant,  on  the  opening  of  spring, 
moved  to  overwhelm  them  and  threatened  Lee's 
line,  Lee  led  them  out,  as  he  had  already  planned 

*Fitzhugh  Lee's  "Life  of  Lee,"  p.  373. 


242  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

to  do  should  necessity  arise  and  his  Government 
permit.  It  was  a  delicate  and  perilous  move 
ment,  and  one  that  would  have  taxed  the  powers 
of  the  greatest  general  in  history.  For  Grant, 
with  his  overwhelming  army  stretching  south 
of  him,  lay  close  against  him  in  a  line  thirty  odd 
miles  long  which  at  many  points  was  not  a 
musket-shot  away. 

Lee  having  given  Longstreet,  who  protected 
Richmond  on  the  north,  orders  to  cross  and  join 
him  at  a  given  point  on  the  night  of  the  2d  of 
April,  withdrew  his  men  from  their  trenches, 
crossed  to  the  north  of  the  Appomattox  on  the 
south  bank  of  which  rested  Grant's  left,  and, 
marching  up  the  north  bank,  recrossed  to  the 
south  side  beyond  Grant's  lines  and  directed  his 
course  for  Amelia  Court  House,  to  which  point 
he  had  ordered  provisions  to  be  sent  to  meet  him. 
Had  his  orders  been  obeyed,  it  is  the  opinion  of 
many  competent  critics  that  he  might  have 
eluded  Grant's  pursuit,  prompt  and  efficient  as 
it  was.  But  no  provisions  were  there.  Some  one 
had  blundered.  It  appears  that  a  provision-train 
had  arrived  on  April  ist,  but  had  been  fatuously 
ordered  to  Richmond.  However  it  was,  a  day 
was  lost  in  the  effort  to  obtain  subsistence  from 
the  depleted  countryside  for  his  famished  army, 
men  and  horses,  and  in  the  interval  Grant  was 


THE   RETREAT  TO  APPOMATTOX  243 

enabled  to  come  up,  and  thenceforth,  in  the  light 
of  subsequent  events,  further  retreat  was  un 
availing.  From  this  moment  it  was  merely  a 
question  of  whether  the  endurance  of  his  starv 
ing  force  would  hold  out  to  march  and  fight 
until  he  had  outstripped  Grant  with  his  pre 
ponderant  force  possessed  of  ample  subsistence 
and  baggage  trains.  So  great  was  the  confi 
dence  of  his  men  in  Lee  that  many  of  them  be 
lieved  that  the  retreat  was  a  movement  designed 
by  him  to  draw  Grant  from  his  base  of  supplies 
with  a  view  to  turning  on  him  and  destroying 
him. 

Every  step  was  in  face  of  the  enemy  massing 
in  force  under  the  able  direction  of  men  like 
Meade,  Ord  and  Sheridan.  The  fighting  was 
almost  hourly,  and,  while  fortune  varied,  the 
balance  of  success  was  largely  with  the  pursuing 
forces.  At  Sailor's  Creek,  Swell's  command 
was  cut  off  and  overwhelmed,  as  was  Anderson's, 
with  a  loss  together  of  nearly  6,000  men.  Among 
the  prisoners  were  six  generals,  Ewell,  Custis 
Lee,  Kershaw,  Dubose,  Corse  and  Hunton. 

At  Farmville,  reached  on  the  6th,  provisions 
were  found  and  the  men  were  served  with  ra 
tions  for  the  first  time  since  they  left  Petersburg; 
but  for  the  most  part  they  lived  on  such  scanty 
fare  as  they  could  secure  from  the  already 


244  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

well-swept  region  which  they  passed.  So  de 
nuded  was  the  country  of  all  that  would  sustain 
life,  that  men  thought  themselves  well  off  when 
a  corn-house  was  found  with  grain  yet  left  in  it 
and  corn  was  distributed  to  them  to  be  parched. 
Even  this  was  not  always  to  be  had,  and  as  corn 
was  necessary  for  the  artillery  horses,  guards 
were  posted  where  they  fed  to  prevent  the  men 
from  taking  it  from  the  horses.  They  were  re 
duced  to  the  necessity  of  raking  up  the  scattered 
grains  from  the  ground  where  the  horses  had 
been  fed  and  even  to  picking  the  grains  from 
the  droppings  of  the  horses.  Many  of  the 
men  became  too  weak  to  carry  their  muskets. 
Small  wonder  that  they  dropped  out  of  the 
ranks  by  hundreds.  Yet  still  the  remainder 
kept  on,  with  unwavering  courage,  unwavering 
devotion  and  unwavering  faith  in  their  com 
mander,  and  wherever  a  chance  was  presented 
they  gave  a  good  account  of  themselves. 

In  their  rags  and  tatters,  ill-clad,  ill-shod,  ill- 
fed,  ill-armed,  and,  whenever  armed,  armed  for 
the  most  part  with  the  weapons  they  had  capt 
ured  from  brave  foes  on  hard-fought  battle 
fields,  they  were  the  abiding  expression  of 
Southern  valor  and  fortitude;  the  flower  of 
Southern  manhood;  the  pick  of  every  class;  the 
crystallized  residue  of  the  Army  of  Northern 


THE  RETREAT  TO  APPOMATTOX  245 

Virginia,  with  which  Lee  had  achieved  his  fame 
and  on  which  to  future  ages  shall  rest  the  fame 
of  the  South. 

Like  a  wounded  lion  that  spent  and  wasted 
army  dragged  itself  across  the  desolated  land; 
now  turning  at  bay  and  at  every  turn  leaving  its 
deep  mark  on  its  pursuers,  now  retreating  again 
without  haste  or  fear,  and  simply  in  obedience 
to  the  instinct  of  self-preservation,  and  at  the 
last,  sinking  with  exhaustion,  with  crest  unlow- 
ered,  heart  undaunted  and  face  steadfastly  set 
to  the  foe. 

The  spring  rains  had  made  the  roads  so  deep 
in  that  region  of  deep  roads  as  to  be  well- 
nigh  impassable  to  the  well-equipped  troops  of 
Grant,  and  operations,  just  before  the  evacu 
ation  of  Richmond,  had  once  to  be  suspended. 
To  Lee's  ill-fed  teams  they  became  at  times 
actually  impassable  and  batteries  had  to  be 
abandoned  because  the  exhausted  horses  could 
not  longer  pull  the  guns.  In  some  cases  the  ar 
tillery-men  armed  themselves  with  muskets 
picked  up  on  the  march  and  were  formed  into 
infantry  companies.  But  in  face  of  Grant's  cap 
ital  generalship,  using  his  great  army  to  best  ad 
vantage,  attacking  and  capturing  bodies  of 
troops  day  after  day,  the  end  could  no  longer  be 
doubtful.  On  the  yth,  General  Pendleton, 


246  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

chief  of  Lee's  reserve  artillery,  at  the  request  of 
some  of  the  high  officers,  approached  the  com 
mander  with  the  suggestion  that  their  united 
voice  was  that  the  situation  was  hopeless,  and 
that  further  righting  was  useless.  Lee,  how 
ever,  was  more  far-sighted.  He  had  not  yet 
abandoned  hope  and  he  replied  that  he  had  too 
many  brave  men  to  think  of  laying  down  his 
arms,  and  that  they  still  fought  with  great  spirit. 
Furthermore,  if  he  should  first  intimate  to  Grant 
that  he  would  listen  to  terms  an  unconditional 
surrender  might  be  demanded.  "And  sooner 
than  that,"  he  added,  "I  am  resolved  to  die."* 

The  end  justified  his  determination.  Grant, 
approaching  in  his  pursuit  the  limit  of  what  he 
thought  a  safe  distance  to  place  between  his 
army  and  his  base,  the  following  day  opened 
negotiations  with  Lee  for  the  surrender  of  his 
army. 

Long  before,  in  writing  to  one  of  his  brothers 
from  Mexico  where  he  contributed  so  much  to 
the  brilliant  victories  which  ended  in  the  capture 
of  the  Mexican  capital,  Lee  had  said,  "We  have 
the  right,  by  the  laws  of  war,  of  dictating  the 
terms  of  peace  and  requiring  indemnity  for  our 
losses  and  expenses.  Rather  than  forego  that 
right  except,  through  a  spirit  of  magnanimity  for 

*  Fitzhugh  Lee's  "  Life  of  Lee,"  p.  392. 


THE   RETREAT  TO  APPOMATTOX  247 

a  crushed  foe,  I  would  fight  them  ten  years;  but 
I  would  be  generous  in  exercising  it."  * 

Would  it  not  be  likely  that  this  letter  should 
recur  to  him  in  this  crisis  of  his  life  ? 

In  another  letter  he  says,  in  referring  to  the 
terms  of  peace:  "These  are  certainly  not  hard 
terms  for  Mexico,  considering  how  the  fortune 
of  war  has  been  against  her.  For  myself,  I 
would  not  exact  more  than  I  would  have  taken 
before  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  as  I 
should  wish  nothing  but  what  was  just."f 

The  continuous  fighting  held  Lee  back,  and 
enabled  Sheridan,  followed  by  Ord,  marching 
by  a  parallel  route,  to  reach  Appomattox  Sta 
tion  before  him  and  bar  his  further  progress. 

A  proposal  was  made  to  Lee  that  the  army 
should  scatter  and  make  its  way  to  Johnston  by 
various  routes.  This  plan  Lee  promptly  dis 
posed  of.  He  declared  that  he  would  go  to 
General  Grant  and  surrender  himself,  though 
he  went  alone,  and  take  the  consequences  of  his 
acts.  { 

On  the  8th  of  April  orders  were  issued  for 

*  Letter  to  his  brother,  Sydney  Smith  Lee,  March  4,  1848, 
cited  in  Jones's  "Life  and  Letters  of  Lee,"  p.  57. 

t  (Letter  cited  in  Jones's  "Lee,"  p.  54.)  John  Russell  Young 
once  told  the  writer  that  Grant  stated  to  him  that  he  could  not 
have  kept  up  his  pursuit  a  half  day  longer. 

t" Military  Memoirs  of  General  E.  P.  Alexander,"  p.  605. 


248  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

a  last  effort.  The  artillery  was  directed  to  be 
brought  up  during  the  night  and  massed  with  a 
view  to  breaking  through  Grant's  forming  lines, 
and  steps  were  taken  to  deliver  battle  once  more. 
All  night  the  men  toiled,  but  next  morning  the 
officer  charged  with  the  task*  notified  Gordon 
that  his  utmost  efforts  had  been  able  to  bring  up 
only  two  batteries — the  rest  of  the  artillery  had 
taken  another  route  and  could  not  be  reached 
— the  horses  of  the  other  batteries  available 
were  gone;  the  residue  of  that  artillery  which 
had  once  helped  to  make  the  artillery  duels  of 
Lee  and  Grant  the  fiercest  in  the  records  of  war 
was  silenced  forever. 

On  this  small  fragment  of  his  once  redoubt 
able  artillery,  and  on  the  remnant  of  his  infantry 
and  cavalry,  one  more  call  was  made  by  Lee. 
As  the  sun  rose  on  the  morning  of  the  Qth  of 
April,  the  worn  and  wasted  squadrons,  with  a 
response  as  prompt  and  generous  as  in  the  best 
days  of  his  most  victorious  campaigns,  advanced 
to  their  last  charge  to  drive  for  the  last  time  their 
foes  before  them.  The  first  onset  was  success 
ful.  Sheridan's  cavalry  was  driven  back  in 
confusion  and  the  situation  was  possibly  saved 
only,  as  the  supporting  general  himself  stated, 

*  Colonel  Thomas  H.  Carter,  a  gallant  and  efficient  soldier,  and 
Lee's  near  kinsman. 


THE  RETREAT  TO  APPOMATTOX  249 

by  the  timely  arrival  of  Ord,  the  commander  of 
the  Army  of  the  James,  with  abundant  troops 
to  bar  the  way.* 

Lee,  after  his  surrender,  asked  for  25,000  ra 
tions,  and  this  is  accepted  as  the  number  of  his 
army.  But  the  actual  number  of  muskets  sur 
rendered  on  the  Qth  of  April  was  less  than  9,000. 
Lee  had  fought  his  army  until  it  had  simply 
worn  away. 

Whatever  men  Lee  had  on  his  rolls,  whether 
ten  thousand,  twenty-five  thousand  or  forty 
thousand,  they  were  in  their  famished  and  spent 
condition  too  few  to  defeat  Grant's  ably  led 
force,  whether  that  force  were  100,000  or  180,000, 
and  Lee,  acting  in  accord  with  the  views  of  his 
general  officers  who  had  urged  on  him  this 
course,  at  last  decided  to  avail  himself  of  Grant's 
generous  proposal.  He  asked  and  received 
from  him  honorable  terms  for  the  surrender  of 
whatever  remained  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia.  A  detached  portion  of  the  cavalry 
had  broken  through  and  started  to  make  its 
way  to  Johnston,  but  Lee  recalled  the  officer 
in  command  and  informed  him  that  he  was  in 
cluded  in  his  surrender. 

*  "  Ord  left  Petersburg  with  20,000  troops,  all  arms;  Fifth  Corps, 
15,973  (Report  of  March  31,  1865);  Sheridan's  Cavalry,  13,810; 
to  which  add  1,000  for  the  Fifth  Corps  Artillery,  makes  50,783." 
— Fitzhugh  Lee's  "  Life  of  Lee,"  p.  388,  note. 


250  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

The  greatness  of  the  occasion  appears  to 
have  lifted  Grant  to  a  higher  plane  than  that  of 
the  mere  soldier  from  which  he  had  looked  ap 
parently  unmoved  on  the  sacrifice  of  thousands 
of  the  gallant  men  and  officers  who,  from  the 
Wilderness  to  Cold  Harbor,  had  died  at  his  bid 
ding;  and  from  which  he  had  refused  with  cold 
calculation  the  offers  of  the  South  to  exchange 
prisoners  and  had  left  men  to  die  like  sheep  in 
prisons  made  noisome  largely  by  their  numbers. 

In  the  long  vigils  before  Petersburg,  faced 
by  a  brave  and  steadfast  foe,  his  mind  had  ap 
parently  been  elevated  as  it  mainly  became  in 
the  presence  of  a  great  crisis — as  it  became  years 
afterward  when,  clutched  fast  in  the  grip  of 
his  last  and  conquering  foe,  he  held  death  at 
bay  while  he  completed  the  remarkable  work 
on  which  his  family  were  to  depend  for  their 
support.  However  this  was,  his  generosity  justi 
fied  Lee's  declaration  that  he  would  give  his 
army  as  good  terms  as  it  had  a  right  to  expect, 
and  his  correspondence  with  Lee  will  bear  com 
parison  with  that  of  any  victor  in  history.* 

*  An  incident  of  the  surrender  told  by  Grant  to  Dr.  Fordyce 
Barker  was  related  by  him  to  Dr.  Wm.  M.  Polk.  Dr.  Barker 
asked  Grant  how  he  felt  when  he  met  Lee  at  Appomattox.  Was 
he  not  sensible  of  great  elation  over  his  achievement  ? 

Grant  replied  that  on  the  contrary  he  was  sensible  rather  of  hu 
miliation.  When  he  found  Lee  in  full-dress  uniform  while  he 


THE  RETREAT  TO  APPOMATTOX  251 

Ten  days  after  Lee's  surrender,  Sherman, 
moved  thereto  by  a  more  generous  impulse  than 
had  hitherto  appeared  to  inspire  him,  and  plainly 
influenced  by  Grant's  magnanimity,  offered  to 
Johnston  terms  even  more  generous,  if  possible, 
than  Grant  had  proposed  to  Lee,  and  after  a 
brief  period  of  negotiation  in  which  Sherman's 
far-sighted  views  were  scornfully  disavowed  and 
rejected  by  the  authorities  in  Washington,  just 
unbridled  by  the  tragic  death  of  Lincoln,  John 
ston  surrendered  on  the  same  terms  that  Lee 
had  accepted. 

In  this  convention  all  the  remaining  forces 
of  the  South  were  included,  and,  in  so  far  as  the 
South  could  effect  it,  the  war  was  over.  The 

himself  was  in  a  simple  fatigue-suit:  a  private's  blouse  with  only 
a  general's  shoulder-straps  to  denote  his  rank,  and  with  his  boots 
spattered  to  their  tops,  he  was  afraid  that  Lee  might  imagine  that 
he  intended  a  discourtesy  to  him  because  of  an  incident  that  had 
occurred  in  Mexico.  General  Scott,  he  said,  was  exceedingly  par 
ticular  as  to  all  matters  of  etiquette,  and  had  given  orders  that 
no  officer  should  appear  at  head-quarters  without  being  in  full- 
dress.  On  some  occasion  thereafter  Grant  had  gone  to  head-quar 
ters  in  an  ordinary  fatigue-uniform  and  that  not  as  neat,  perhaps,  as 
it  should  have  been,  and  had  reported  to  Lee,  who  was  at  the  time 
serving  on  Scott's  staff.  After  the  business  had  been  transacted, 
Lee  said,  "  I  feel  it  my  duty,  Captain,  to  call  your  attention  to 
General  Scott's  order  that  an  officer  reporting  at  head-quarters 
should  be  in  full  uniform." 

This  incident,  said  the  general,  suddenly  flashed  across  his 
mind  and  made  him  uncomfortable  lest  General  Lee  should  recall 
it  also,  and  imagine  that  he  intended  to  affront  him. 


252  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

war,  however,  practically  ended  when  Lee  sur 
rendered  his  army  at  Appomattox. 

The  highest  tribute  to  this  army  is  the  simple 
fact  that  with  its  surrender  the  war  was  over. 
The  fortunes  of  the  Confederacy  had  been  nailed 
to  its  tattered  standards  and  with  them  went 
down. 


CHAPTER  XV 

LEE  IN  DEFEAT 

A  ND  now,  having  adverted  thus  hastily  to 
^  those  glorious  campaigns  which  must,  to  the 
future  student  of  military  skill,  place  Lee  among 
the  first  captains  of  history,  I  shall  not  invite 
attention  further  to  Lee  the  soldier — not  to  Lee 
the  victorious  general  of  the  Seven  Days'  fights; 
of  Second  Manassas;  of  Fredericksburg;  of 
Chancellorsville;  of  the  Wilderness;  ofSpottsyl- 
vania  Court  House;  of  Cold  Harbor — not  to 
Lee  the  Strategist,  who  relieved  Richmond  in 
three  campaigns.  Not  to  Lee  the  Victorious, 
shall  I  ask  further  attention;  but  to  a  greater 
Lee — to  Lee  the  Defeated. 

As  glorious  as  were  these  campaigns,  it  is  on 
the  last  act  of  the  drama,  the  retreat  from  Peters 
burg,  the  surrender  at  Appomattox  and  the  dark 
period  that  followed  that  surrender,  that  we 
must  look  to  see  him  at  his  best.  His  every 
act,  his  every  word,  showed  how  completely 
he  had  surrendered  himself  to  Duty;  and  with 

253 


254  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

what  implicit  obedience  he  followed  the  com 
mand  of  that 

"  Stern  daughter  of  the  voice  of  God." 

"Are  you  sanguine  of  the  result  of  the  war  ?" 
asked  Bishop  Wilmer  of  him  in  the  closing  days 
of  the  struggle.  His  reply  was : 

"At  present  I  am  not  concerned  with  results. 
God's  will  ought  to  be  our  aim,  and  I  am  quite 
contented  that  His  designs  should  be  accom 
plished  and  not  mine." 

On  that  last  morning  when  his  handful  of 
worn  and  starving  veterans  had  made  their  last 
charge,  to  find  themselves  shut  in  by  ranks  of 
serried  steel;  hemmed  in  by  Grant's  entire 
army;  he  faced  the  decree  of  Fate  with  as  much 
constancy  as  though  that  decree  were  Success, 
not  Doom. 

"What  will  history  say  of  the  surrender  of 
an  army  in  the  field  ? "  asked  an  officer  of  his  staff 
in  passionate  grief. 

"Yes,  I  know  they  will  say  hard  things  of 
us;  they  will  not  understand  that  we  were  over 
whelmed  by  numbers;  but  that  is  not  the  ques 
tion,  Colonel.  The  .question  is,  is  it  right  to 
surrender  this  army  ?  If  it  is  right,  then  I  will 
take  all  of  the  responsibility." 

It  was  ever  the  note  of  duty  that  he  sounded. 


LEE   IN   DEFEAT  255 

"You  will  take  with  you,"  he  said  to  his 
army  in  his  farewell  address,  "the  satisfaction 
that  proceeds  from  the  consciousness  of  duty 
faithfully  performed;  and  I  earnestly  pray  that 
a  merciful  God  will  extend  to  you  His  blessing 
and  protection.  With  an  unceasing  admiration 
of  your  constancy  and  devotion  to  your  country 
and  a  grateful  remembrance  of  your  kind  and 
generous  consideration  of  myself,  I  bid  you  an 
affectionate  farewell." 

"We  are  conscious  that  we  have  humbly  tried 
to  do  our  duty,"  he  said,  a  year  or  more  after  the 
war,  when  the  clouds  hung  heavy  over  the 
South;  "we  may,  therefore,  with  calm  satisfac 
tion  trust  in  God  and  leave  results  to  Him." 

The  sun,  which  has  shone  in  the  morning, 
but  has  become  obscured  by  clouds  in  the  after 
noon,  sometimes  breaks  forth,  and  at  its  setting 
shines  with  a  greater  splendor  than  it  knew  even 
at  high  noon. 

So  here.  Sheathing  his  stainless  sword,  sur 
rendering  in  the  field  the  remnant  of  an  army 
that  had  once  been  the  most  redoubtable  body 
of  fighting  men  of  the  century,  the  greatest  cap 
tain,  the  noblest  gentleman  of  our  time,  expect 
ing  to  slip  into  the  darkness  of  oblivion,  suddenly 
stepped  forth  from  the  gloom  of  defeat  into  the 
splendor  of  perpetual  fame. 


256  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

I  love  to  think  of  Grant  as  he  appeared  that 
April  day  at  the  surrender:  the  simple  soldier, 
the  strenuous  fighter,  who,  though  thrashed, 
was  always  ready  to  fight  again;  who,  now 
though  he  had  achieved  the  prize  for  which  he 
had  fought  so  hard  and  had  paid  so  dearly,  was 
so  modest,  and  so  unassuming,  that  but  for  his 
shoulder-straps  and  that  yet  better  mark  of 
rank,  his  generosity,  he  might  not  have  been 
known  as  the  victor.  Southerners  generally 
have  long  forgiven  Grant  all  else  for  the  mag 
nanimity  that  he  showed  that  day  to  Lee.  By 
his  orders  no  salutes  of  joy  were  fired,  no  public 
marks  of  exultation  over  his  fallen  foe  were 
allowed.  History  contains  no  finer  example  of 
greatness.  Not  Alexander  in  his  generous 
youth  excelled  him. 

Yet,  it  is  not  more  to  the  victor  that  posterity 
will  turn  her  gaze  than  to  the  vanquished,  her 
admiration  at  the  glory  of  the  conqueror  well- 
nigh  lost  in  amazement  at  the  dignity  of  the 
conquered. 

Men  who  saw  the  defeated  general  when  he 
came  forth  from  the  chamber  where  he  had 
signed  the  articles  of  capitulation  say  that  he 
paused  a  moment  as  his  eyes  rested  once  more 
on  the  Virginia  hills;  smote  his  hands  together 
as  though  in  some  excess  of  inward  agony,  then 


LEE  IN  DEFEAT  257 

mounted    his  gray   horse,  Traveller,  and   rode 
calmly  away. 

If  that  was  the  very  Gethsemane  of  his  trials, 
yet  he  must  have  had  then  one  moment  of  su 
preme,  if  chastened,  joy.  As  he  rode  quietly 
down  the  lane  leading  from  the  scene  of  capitu 
lation,  he  passed  into  view  of  his  men — of  such 
as  remained  of  them.  The  news  of  the  sur 
render  had  got  abroad  and  they  were  waiting, 
grief-stricken  and  dejected  upon  the  hillsides, 
when  they  caught  sight  of  their  old  commander 
on  the  gray  horse.  Then  occurred  one  of  the 
most  notable  scenes  in  the  history  of  war.  In 
an  instant  they  were  about  him,  bare-headed, 
with  tear- wet  faces;  thronging  him,  kissing  his 
hand,  his  boots,  his  saddle;  weeping;  cheering 
him  amid  their  tears;  shouting  his  name  to  the 
very  skies.  He  said,  "Men,  we  have  fought 
through  the  war  together;  I  have  done  my  best 
for  you;  my  heart  is  too  full  to  say  more." 

Thus,  with  kindly  words,  as  of  a  father,  and  a 
heart  that  must  have  felt  some  solace  in  such  de 
votion,  he  bade  them  farewell,  and  left  them  like 
the  devoted  band  that  wept  for  the  great  Apostle 
to  the  Gentiles,  weeping  most  of  all  that  they 
should  see  his  face  no  more. 

The  cheers  were  heard  afar  off  over  the  hills 
where  the  victorious  army  lay  encamped,  and 


258  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

awakened  some  anxiety.     It  was  a  sound  they 
well  knew: 

"The  voice  once  heard  through  Shiloh's  woods, 

And  Chickamauga's  solitudes, 
The  fierce  South  cheering  on  her  sons." 

It  was  reported  in  some  of  the  Northern  papers 
that  it  was  the  sound  of  jubilation  at  the  sur 
render.  But  no!  Some  of  those  who  are  still 
here  know  what  it  was;  for  they  were  there. 
It  was  the  voice  of  jubilation,  yet  not  for  surren 
der:  but  for  the  captain  who  had  surrendered 
their  muskets,  but  was  still  the  commander  of 
their  hearts. 

This  is  Lee's  final  victory  and  the  highest 
tribute  to  the  South:  that  the  devotion  of  the 
South  to  him  was  greater  in  the  hour  of  defeat 
than  in  that  of  victory.  It  is  said  that  Na 
poleon  was  adored  by  the  men  of  France;  but 
hated  by  the  women.  It  was  not  so  with  Lee. 
No  victor  ever  came  home  to  receive  more  signal 
evidences  of  devotion  than  this  defeated  general. 

Richmond  was  in  mourning.  Since  the 
Union  army  had  entered  her  gates,  every  house 
had  been  closed  as  though  it  were  the  house  of 
death.  One  afternoon,  a  few  days  after  the 
surrender,  Lee,  on  his  gray  horse,  Traveller, 
attended  by  two  or  three  officers,  crossed  the 


LEE  IN  DEFEAT  259 

James  and  rode  quietly  up  the  street  to  his 
home  on  Franklin  Street,  where  he  dismounted. 
That  evening  it  was  noised  abroad  that  General 
Lee  had  arrived;  he  had  been  seen  to  enter  his 
house.  Next  morning  the  houses  were  open  as 
usual;  life  began  to  flow  in  its  accustomed  chan 
nels.  Those  who  were  there  have  said  that 
when  General  Lee  returned  they  felt  as  safe  as 
if  he  had  had  his  whole  army  at  his  back. 

His  first  recorded  words  on  his  arrival  were 
a  tribute  to  his  successful  opponent.  "General 
Grant  has  acted  with  magnanimity/'  he  said 
to  some  who  spoke  of  the  victor  with  bitterness. 
It  was  the  keynote  to  his  after  life. 

Over  forty  years  have  gone  by  since  that  day 
in  April  when  Lee,  to  avoid  further  useless 
sacrifice  of  life,  surrendered  himself  and  all 
that  remained  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 
and  gave  his  parole  d'honneur  to  bear  arms  no 
more  against  the  United  States.  To  him,  who 
with  prescient  mind  had  long  borne  in  his  bosom 
knowledge  of  the  exhausted  resources  of  the 
Confederacy,  and  had  seen  his  redoubtable 
army,  under  the  "policy  of  attrition,"  dwindle 
away  to  a  mere  ghost  of  its  former  self,  it  might 
well  appear  that  he  had  failed,  and,  if  he  ever 
thought  of  his  personal  reputation,  that  he  had 
lost  the  soldier's  dearest  prize;  that  Fame  had 


26o  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

turned  her  back  and  Fate  usurped  her  place. 
Thenceforth,  he  who  had  been  the  leader  of 
armies;  whose  glorious  achievements  had  filled 
the  world;  who  had  been  the  prop  of  a  high 
hearted  nation's  hope,  was  to  walk  the  narrow 
byway  of  private  life,  defeated,  impoverished 
and  possibly  misunderstood. 

But  to  us  who  have  survived  for  the  space  of 
more  than  a  generation,  how  different  it  ap 
pears.  We  know  that  Time,  the  redresser  of 
wrongs,  is  steadily  righting  the  act  of  unkind 
Fate;  and  Fame,  firmly  established  in  her  high 
seat,  is  ever  placing  a  richer  laurel  on  his  brow. 

Yea,  ride  away,  thou  defeated  general!  Ride 
through  the  broken  fragments  of  thy  shattered 
army,  ride  through  thy  war-wasted  land,  amid 
thy  desolate  and  stricken  people.  But  know 
that  thou  art  riding  on  Fame's  highest  way: 

"This  day  shall  see 
Thy  head  wear  sunlight  and  thy  feet  touch  stars." 


CHAPTER  XVI 

AFTER    THE    WAR 

'T^HE  sternest  test  of  Lee's  character  was  yet 
to  come.  Only  those  who  went  through  it 
can  know  the  depth  of  the  humiliation  in  which, 
during  the  next  few  years,  malignity,  with  Igno 
rance  for  ally,  strove  to  steep  the  South. 

Out  of  it  Lee  came  without  a  trace  of  rancor 
or  of  bitterness.  In  all  the  annals  of  our  race 
no  man  has  ever  shown  a  nobler  or  more  Chris 
tian  spirit. 

Lincoln,  who  was  of  Southern  blood  and 
whose  passion  was  a  reunited  Union,  was  in 
his  grave,  slain  by  a  madman,  and  after  life's 
fitful  fever  was  sleeping  well,  his  last  message 
being  one  of  peace  and  good-will.  His  successor 
began  by  flinging  himself  into  the  arms  of  those 
who  had  hated  Lincoln  most. 

On  the  2Qth  of  May,  President  Johnson  issued 
a  proclamation  of  amnesty,  but  General  Lee, 
with  all  others  of  rank,  was  excluded  from  its 
operation,  and  he  was  indicted  for  treason, 

261 


26a  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

by  a  grand  jury,  composed  partly  of  negroes, 
especially  selected  for  the  purpose  of  returning 
indictments  against  him  and  Mr.  Davis.  There 
were  those  who  stood  proudly  aloof  and  gave  no 
sign  of  desiring  reinstatement  as  citizens.  Some 
scornfully  declared  their  resolution  to  live  and  die 
without  accepting  parole.  Not  so  the  broad- 
minded  and  wise  Lee.  He  immediately  wrote  (on 
June  1 3th)  to  the  President  apply  ing  for  the  "ben 
efits  and  full  restoration  of  all  rights  and  privi 
leges  extended  to  those  included  in  the  terms  of 
the  proclamation."  This  application  he  inclosed 
on  the  same  day  in  a  letter  to  General  Grant 
informing  him  that  he  was  ready  to  meet  any 
charges  that  might  be  preferred  against  him 
and  did  not  wish  to  avoid  trial,  but  that  he  had 
supposed  that  the  officers  and  men  of  the  army 
of  Northern  Virginia  were  by  the  terms  of 
surrender  protected  by  the  United  States  Gov 
ernment  from  molestation  so  long  as  they  con 
formed  to  its  conditions. 

Grant  immediately  rose  to  the  demand  of  the 
occasion — as  he  had  a  way  of  doing  in  great 
emergencies.  He  informed  General  Lee  that 
his  understanding  of  the  convention  at  Appo- 
mattox  was  identical  with  his;  and  he  is  said  to 
have  threatened  Johnson  with  the  surrender 
of  the  command  of  the  army  unless  the  indict- 


AFTER  THE  WAR  263 

ment  were  quashed  and  the  convention  honor 
ably  observed. 

Johnson  himself,  confronted  by  an  ever- 
strengthening  phalanx  of  enemies  within  his  own 
party,  soon,  for  his  own  reasons,  underwent  a 
change  of  heart,  and  from  denouncing  against 
the  South  measures  that  should  "make  treason 
odious,"  began  to  speak  of  the  South  to  South 
erners  in  a  more  conciliatory  manner.  Gover 
nor  Letcher,  of  Virginia,  who  had  been  arrested, 
was  treated  in  Washington  with  kindness  and 
consideration.  It  was  on  learning  of  this  that 
General  Lee  declared  his  opinion  that  the  deci 
sion  of  war  having  been  against  the  South,  it  was 
"  the  part  of  wisdom  to  acquiesce  in  the  result, 
and  of  candor  to  recognize  the  fact."  The  inter 
ests  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  he  said,  were  the  same 
as  those  of  the  United  States.  Its  prosperity 
would  rise  or  fall  with  the  welfare  of  the  country. 
The  duty  of  its  citizens  then  appeared  to  him 
too  plain  to  admit  of  doubt.  He  urged  that  all 
should  unite  in  honest  efforts  to  obliterate  the 
effects  of  war  and  to  restore  the  blessings  of 
peace.  That  they  should  remain  if  possible 
in  the  country;  promote  harmony  and  good 
feeling;  qualify  themselves  to  vote  and  elect 
to  the  State  and  general  legislatures  wise  and 
patriotic  men  who  would  devote  their  abilities 


264  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

to  the  interests  of  the  country  and  the  healing 
of  all  dissensions.  "I  have,"  he  asserted,  "in 
variably  recommended  this  course  since  the 
cessation  of  hostilities,  and  have  endeavored 
to  practise  it  myself."* 

He  was  much  disturbed  about  this  time  by 
the  tendency  of  some  of  his  old  friends  in  their 
despair  to  emigrate  from  the  South.  That  con 
stant  soul  knew  no  defeat,  much  less  despair, 
and  he  had  not  despaired  of  the  South.  He 
protested  against  leaving  the  State  for  any  reason, 
avowing  his  unalterable  belief  in  the  duty  of 
every  man  to  remain  and  bear  his  part  in  what 
ever  trials  might  befall.  "The  thought  of 
abandoning  the  country  and  all  that  must  be 
left  in  it,"  he  wrote,  "is  abhorrent  to  my  feel 
ings,  and  I  prefer  to  struggle  for  its  restoration 
and  share  its  fate  rather  than  to  give  up  all  as 
lost,  and  Virginia  has  need  for  all  her  sons."f 
And  this  devotion  he  exemplified  to  the  fullest 
extent  in  his  life. 

The  war  had  scarcely  ceased  and  his  con 
dition  of  narrow  circumstances  become  known, 
when  offers  of  places  of  honor  and  profit  began 
to  come  to  him:  offers  of  the  presidency  of 
insurance  companies  and  of  other  industrial 

*  Letter  of  August  28,  1865,  to  ex-Governor  Letcher. 

t  Letter  to  Commodore  M.  F.  Maury,  September  8,  1865. 


AFTER  THE  WAR  265 

enterprises — proposals  that  he  should  allow  his 
name  to  be  used  for  the  highest  office  in  the  gift 
of  the  State;  even  offers  from  admirers  in  the 
old  country  of  an  asylum  on  that  side  of  the 
water,  where  a  handsome  estate  was  tendered 
him,  as  a  tribute  of  admiration,  so  that  he 
could  spend  the  residue  of  his  life  in  peace  and 
comfort. 

His  reply  to  all  these  allurements  was  that 
which  we  now  know  was  the  only  one  he  could 
make:  a  gracious  but  irrevocable  refusal.  Dur 
ing  the  war,  when  a  friend  had  suggested  to 
him  the  probability  that  the  people  of  the 
South  would  demand  that  he  should  be  their 
President,  he  had  promptly  and  decisively  de 
clared  that  he  would  never  accept  such  a  posi 
tion.  So  now,  when  the  governorship  of  Vir 
ginia  was  proposed  to  him,  he  firmly  refused  to 
consider  it.  With  the  same  firmness  he  rejected 
all  proposals  to  provide  him  with  honorable 
commercial  positions  at  a  high  salary. 

On  one  of  these  occasions  he  was  approached 
with  a  tender  of  the  presidency  of  an  insurance 
company  at  a  salary  of  $50,000  a  year.  He  de 
clined  it  on  the  ground  that  it  was  work  with 
which  he  was  not  familiar.  "But,  General," 
said  the  gentleman  who  represented  the  insur 
ance  company,  "you  will  not  be  expected  to  do 


266  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

any  work;    what  we  wish  is  the  use  of  your 


name." 


"Do  you  not  think,"  said  General  Lee,  "that 
if  my  name  is  worth  $50,000  a  year,  I  ought  to 
be  very  careful  about  taking  care  of  it  ?" 

Amid  the  commercialism  of  the  present  age 
this  sounds  as  refreshing  as  the  oath  of  a  knight 
of  the  Round  Table. 

Defeated  in  one  warfare,  he  was  still  a  captain 
militant  in  the  service  of  Duty:  Duty,  that  like 
the  moon,  often  shows  her  darkened  face  to 
her  votary,  though  in  the  future  she  may  beam 
with  radiance. 

Duty  now  appeared  to  him  to  send  her  sum 
mons  from  a  little  mountain  town  in  which 
was  a  classical  school  which  Washington  had 
endowed,  and  Lee,  turning  from  all  offers  of 
wealth  and  ease,  obeyed  her  call. 

"They  are  offering  my  father  everything," 
said  one  of  his  daughters,  "  but  the  only  thing 
he  will  accept:  a  place  to  earn  honest  bread 
while  engaged  in  some  useful  work."  That 
speech,  made  to  a  Trustee  of  the  Institution  re 
ferred  to,  brought  Lee  the  offer  of  the  presidency 
of  Washington  College  at  a  salary  of  $1,500  a 
year — and  after  some  hesitation,  due  to  his  fear 
that  his  association  with  an  institution  might 
in  the  state  of  political  feeling  then  existing 


AFTER  THE  WAR  267 

prove  an  injury  rather  than  a  benefit  to  it,  he 
accepted  it. 

Thus,  the  first  captain  of  his  time,  and  almost, 
if  not  quite,  the  most  famous  man  in  the  world, 
with  offers  that  might  well,  in  that  hour  of  trial, 
have  allured  even  him  with  all  his  modesty, 
turned  his  back  on  the  world,  and,  following 
the  lamp  with  which  Duty  appeared  to  light  his 
way,  rode  quietly  to  that  little  mountain  town 
in  Rockbridge  to  devote  the  remainder  of  his 
life  to  fitting  the  sons  of  his  old  soldiers  to 
meet  the  exactions  of  the  coming  time.  On  his 
old  war-horse,  he  rode  into  Lexington  alone, 
one  afternoon  in  the  early  autumn,  and,  after  a 
hush  of  reverent  silence  at  his  first  appearance, 
was  greeted  on  the  streets  by  his  old  soldiers  with 
the  far-famed  rebel  yell  which  he  had  heard 
last  as  he  rode  down  the  lane  from  Appomattox. 

Ah!  ride  on  alone,  old  man,  with  Duty  at  thy 
bridle-bit:  behind  thee  is  the  glory  of  thy  mili 
tary  career;  before  thee  is  the  transcendent 
fame  of  thy  future.  Thou  shalt  abide  there 
henceforth;  there  shall  thy  ashes  repose;  but 
thou  shalt  make  of  that  little  town  a  shrine  to 
which  pilgrims  shall  turn  with  softened  eyes  so 
long  as  men  admire  virtue  and  the  heart  aspires 
to  the  ideal  of  Duty. 

He  was  sworn  in  as  president  on  the  ad  of 


268  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

October,  1865,  and  thenceforth  his  life  was  de 
voted  to  the  new  service  he  had  entered  on,  with 
the  same  zeal  with  which  he  always  applied  him 
self  to  the  dutv  before  him. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

LEE   AS    COLLEGE   PRESIDENT 

part  of  his  life  reflects  greater  honor  on 
his  memory  than  that  which  was  now 
to  come.  Here,  as  in  everything  else,  he  ad 
dressed  all  his  powers  to  the  work  in  hand. 
He  found  the  institution  merely  an  old  and  de 
nominational  college,  dilapidated  and  well-nigh 
ruined,  without  means  and  without  students. 
The  mere  fact  of  his  connection  with  it  gave  it 
at  once  a  reputation.  He  changed  the  little  col 
lege,  as  if  by  an  enchanter's  wand,  from  a  mere 
academy  to  a  great  institution  of  learning.  He 
instituted  or  extended  the  honor  system — that 
Southern  system  which  reckons  the  establish 
ment  of  character  to  be  at  once  the  basis  and 
end  of  all  education.  Students  flocked  there 
from  all  over  the  South.  He  knew  them  all — 
and,  what  is  more,  followed  them  all  in  their 
work.  He  was  as  prompt  at  chapel  as  the 
chaplains;  as  interested  in  the  classes  as  the 
professors  and  certainly  more  than  the  students. 
"I  have  led  the  young  men  of  the  South  to 
269 


270  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

battle,"  he  said  on  one  occasion;  "I  have 
seen  many  of  them  die  on  the  field.  I  shall  de 
vote  my  remaining  energy  to  training  young 
men  to  do  their  duty  in  life."  And  nobly  he 
performed  this  high  task.  The  standard  he 
ever  held  up  was  that  of  duty. 

His  old  soldiers,  often  at  great  sacrifice,  sent 
their  sons  to  be  under  his  direction,  and  to 
learn  at  his  feet  the  stern  lesson  of  duty.  But 
it  was  he  who  made  the  college  worthy  of  their 
confidence.  He  elevated  the  standards,  broad 
ened  the  scope,  called  about  him  the  most  ac 
complished  professors  to  be  found  and  inspired 
them  with  new  enthusiasm.  No  principle  was 
too  abstruse  for  him  to  grasp;  no  detail  too 
small  for  him  to  examine.  He  familiarized 
himself  alike  with  the  methods  employed  at  the 
best  institutions,  and  with  the  conduct  and 
standing  of  every  student  at  his  own. 

An  educational  official  has  stated  that  of  a 
number  of  college  presidents  to  whom  he  ad 
dressed  an  inquiry  relating  to  educational 
matters,  General  Lee  was  the  only  one  who 
took  the  trouble  to  send  him  an  answer.  He 
who  had  commanded  armies,  "the  lowliest 
duties  on  himself  did  lay."  He  audited  every 
account;  he  presided  at  every  faculty  meeting; 
studied  and  signed  every  report. 


LEE  AS  COLLEGE  PRESIDENT       271 

In  fact,  the  chief  stimulus  to  the  students 
was  the  knowledge  that  General  Lee  was  fa 
miliar  with  every  student's  standing,  and  to 
some  extent,  with  every  man's  conduct.  An 
invitation  to  visit  him  in  his  office  was  the  most 
dreaded  event  in  a  student's  life,  though  the 
actual  interview  was  always  softened  by  a  noble 
courtesy  on  the  President's  part  into  an  expe 
rience  which  left  an  impress  throughout  life  and 
ever  remained  a  cherished  memory. 

To  one  thus  summoned,  the  General  urged 
greater  attention  to  study,  on  the  ground  that 
it  would  prevent  the  failure  which  would  other 
wise  inevitably  come  to  him. 

"  But,  General,  you  failed,"  said  the  youth — 
meaning,  as  he  explained  afterward,  to  pay 
him  a  tribute. 

"I  hope  that  you  may  be  more  fortunate 
than  I,"  replied  the  General  quietly. 

On  another  occasion,  a  youth  from  the  far 
South  having  "cut  lectures"  to  go  skating,  an 
accomplishment  he  had  just  acquired,  was 
summoned  to  appear  before  the  president,  and 
having  made  his  defence  was  told  by  the  General 
that  he  should  not  have  broken  the  rule  of  the 
institution,  but  should  have  requested  to  be 
excused  from  attendance  on  lectures. 

"You  understand  now?" 


272  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

"Yes,  sir.  Well,  General,  the  ice  is  fine 
this  morning.  I'd  like  to  be  excused  to-day," 
promptly  replied  the  ready  youngster. 

It  was  occasionally  the  habit  of  the  young 
orators  who  spoke  in  public  at  celebrations  to 
express  their  feelings  by  indulging  in  compli 
ments  to  General  Lee,  and  the  reverse  of  com 
pliments  to  "the  Yankees."  Such  references, 
clad  in  the  glowing  rhetoric  and  informed  with 
the  deep  feeling  of  youthful  oratory,  never 
failed  to  stir  their  audiences  and  evoke  unstinted 
applause.  General  Lee,  however,  promptly  put 
a  stop  to  this.  He  notified  the  speakers  that 
such  references  were  to  be  omitted.  "Those 
to  me  are  embarrassing  to  me;  those  to  the 
North  tend  to  promote  ill  feeling  and  injure 
the  institution." 

Among  the  students  at  this  time  were  quite 
a  number  who  had  been  soldiers  and  were  ha 
bituated  to  a  degree  of  freedom.  Pranks  among 
the  students  were,  of  course,  common,  and  were 
not  dealt  with  harshly.  One  episode,  however, 
occurred  which  showed  the  strong  hand  in  the 
soft  gauntlet. 

Prior  to  General  Lee's  installation  as  presi 
dent,  it  had  always  been  the  custom  to  grant 
at  least  a  week's  holiday  at  Christmas.  This 
custom  the  faculty,  under  the  president's  lead, 


LEE  AS  COLLEGE   PRESIDENT       273 

did  away  with,  and  thenceforth  only  Christmas 
Day  was  given  as  a  holiday. 

A  petition  to  return  to  the  old  order  having 
failed,  a  meeting  of  the  students  was  held  and 
a  paper  was  posted  containing  many  signatures 
declaring  the  signers'  determination  not  to  at 
tend  lectures  during  Christmas  week.  Some 
manifestation  appeared  on  the  part  of  certain 
of  the  faculty  of  giving  in  to  the  students'  de 
mand.  General  Lee  settled  the  matter  at  once 
by  announcing  that  any  man  whose  name  ap 
peared  on  the  rebellious  declaration  would  be 
expelled  from  the  college.  And  if  every  student 
signed  it,  he  said,  he 'would  send  every  one  home 
and  simply  lock  up  the  college  and  put  the  key 
in  his  pocket. 

The  activity  displayed  in  getting  names  off 
the  paper  was  amusing,  and  the  attendance 
at  lectures  that  Christmas  was  unusually  large. 

I  cannot  forbear  to  relate  a  personal  incident 
which  I  feel  illustrates  well  General  Lee's 
method  of  dealing  with  his  students.  I  was  so 
unfortunate  while  at  college  as  to  have  always  an 
early  class,  and  from  time  to  time  on  winter 
mornings  it  was  my  habit  "to  run  late,"  as  the 
phrase  went.  This  brought  me  in  danger  of 
meeting  the  president  on  his  way  from  chapel, 
a  contingency  I  was  usually  careful  to  guard 


274  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

against.  One  morning,  however,  I  miscalcu 
lated,  and  as  I  turned  a  corner  came  face  to 
face  with  him.  His  greeting  was  most  civil,  and 
touching  my  cap  I  hurried  by.  Next  moment 
I  heard  my  name  spoken,  and  turning  I  re 
moved  my  cap  and  faced  him. 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Tell  Miss  (mentioning  the  daughter 

of  my  uncle,  General  Pendleton,  who  kept 
house  for  him)  that  I  say  will  she  please  have 
breakfast  a  little  earlier  for  you." 

"Yes,  sir."  And  I  hurried  on  once  more,  re 
solved  that  should  I  ever  be  late  again  I  would, 
at  least,  take  care  not  to  meet  the  General. 

Craving  due  allowance  alike  for  the  imma 
turity  of  a  boy  and  the  mellowing  influence  of 
passing  years,  I  will  try  to  picture  General  Lee 
as  I  recall  him,  and  as  he  must  be  recalled  by 
thousands  who  yet  remember  him.  He  was.  in 
common  phrase,  one  of  the  handsomest  men  I 
ever  knew  and  easily  the  most  impressive  looking. 
His  figure,  which  in  earlier  life  had  been  tall  and 
admirably  proportioned,  was  now  compact  and 
rounded  rather  than  stout,  and  was  still  in  fine 
proportion  to  his  height.  His  head,  well  set  on  his 
shoulders,  and  his  erect  and  dignified  carriage 
made  him  a  distinguished  and,  indeed,  a  noble 
figure.  His  soft  hair  and  carefully  trimmed  beard, 


LEE  AS  COLLEGE  PRESIDENT       275 

silvery  white,  with  his  florid  complexion  and  dark 
eyes,  clear  and  frank,  gave  him  a  pleasant  and 
kindly  expression,  and  I  remember  how,  when  he 
smiled,  his  eyes  twinkled  and  his  teeth  shone. 
He  always  walked  slowly,  and  even  pensively, 
for  he  was,  without  doubt,  already  sensible 
of  the  trouble  which  finally  struck  him  down; 
and  the  impression  that  remains  with  me  chiefly 
is  of  his  dignity  and  his  gracious  courtesy.  I  do 
not  remember  that  we  feared  him  at  all,  or  even 
stood  in  awe  of  him.  Collegians  stand  in  awe 
of  few  things  or  persons.  But  we  honored  him 
beyond  measure,  and  after  nearly  forty  years 
he  is  still  the  most  imposing  figure  I  ever  saw. 

Even  here,  in  his  seclusion,  while  honored  by 
the  best  of  those  who  had  bravely  fought  against 
him,  he  was  pursued  by  the  malignity  of  those 
haters  of  the  South,  who,  having  kept  carefully 
concealed  while  the  guns  were  firing,  now  that 
all  personal  danger  was  over  endeavored  to 
make  amends  by  assailing  with  their  clamor 
the  noblest  of  the  defeated.  It  was  a  period  of 
passion,  and  those  who,  under  other  conditions, 
might  have  acted  with  deliberation  and  reason, 
gave  the  loose  to  their  feeling,  and  surrendered 
themselves  blindly  to  the  direction  of  their  wild 
est  and  most  passionate  leaders.  Those  against 
whose  private  life  the  purity  of  his  life  was  an 


276  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

ever-burning  protest  reviled  him  most  bitterly. 
The  hostile  press  of  the  time  was  filled  with 
railing  against  him;  the  halls  of  Congress  rang 
with  denunciation  of  him  as  a  traitor:  the  fool 
ish  and  futile  yelping  of  the  cowardly  pack  that 
ever  gather  about  the  wounded  and  spent  lion. 
And  with  what  noble  dignity  and  self-command 
he  treated  it  all!  To  the  nobility  of  a  gentleman 
he  added  the  meekness  of  a  Christian.  When, 
with  a  view  to  setting  an  example  to  the  South, 
he  applied  to  be  included  in  the  terms  of  the 
general  amnesty  finally  offered,  his  application 
was  ignored,  and  to  his  death  he  remained  "a 
prisoner  on  parole." 

He  was  dragged  before  high  commissions  and 
was  cross-examined  by  hostile  prosecutors  pant 
ing  to  drive  or  inveigle  him  into  some  admission 
which  would  compromise  him,  but  without  avail, 
or  even  the  ignoble  satisfaction  to  his  enemies 
that  they  had  ruffled  his  unbroken  calm. 

From  this  time  he  gave  all  the  weight  of  his 
great  name  to  the  complete  re-establishment 
of  the  Union,  and  as  his  old  soldiers  followed 
and  obeyed  him  on  the  field  of  battle,  so  now 
the  whole  South  followed  him  in  peace.  Only 
the  South  knows  as  yet  what  the  Union  owes 
to  Lee. 

Happily,  as  we  know,  his  serene  soul,  lifted 


LEE  AS  COLLEGE  PRESIDENT      277 

too  high  to  be  disturbed  by  any  storms  of  doubt, 
was  untroubled  by  any  question  born  of  his 
failure.  "I  did  nothing  more,"  he  said  to  Gen 
eral  Hampton,  one  of  his  most  gallant  lieuten 
ants,  "than  my  duty  required  of  me;  I  could 
have  taken  no  other  course  without  dishonor, 
and  if  it  were  all  to  be  done  over  again,  I  should 
act  in  precisely  the  same  manner." 

Thus,  in  the  lofty  calm  of  a  mind  conscious 
of  having  tried  faithfully  to  follow  ever  the 
right;  of  having  obeyed  without  question  the 
command  of  duty,  in  simple  reliance  on  the 
goodness  of  God,  the  great  captain  passed  the 
brief  evening  of  his  life,  trying  by  his  constant 
precept  and  example  to  train  the  young  men 
of  the  South  as  Christian  gentlemen. 

He  read  little  on  the  war,  and  though  he  at 
one  time  contemplated  writing  a  history  of,  at 
least,  some  part  of  it,  he  put  aside  the  tempta 
tion  and  contented  himself  with  writing  a  brief 
memoir  of  his  honored  father  to  accompany  a 
new  and  revised  edition  which  he  edited  of  the 
latter's  "Memoirs  of  the  War  in  the  Southern 
Department  of  the  United  States." 

It  was  his  diversion  to  ride  his  old  war-horse, 
Traveller,  among  the  green  hills  of  that  beauti 
ful  country  about  Lexington,  at  times  piloting 
through  the  bridle-paths  the  little  daughters  of 


278  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

some  professor,  sun-bonneted  and  rosy,  riding 
two  astride  the  same  horse;  or  now  and  then 
meeting  an  old  soldier  who  asked  the  privilege 
of  giving  for  him  once  more  the  old  cheer,  which 
in  past  days  had  at  sight  of  him  rung  out  on  so 
many  a  hard-fought  field. 

One  of  his  biographers*  relates  that  seeing  him 
one  day  talking  at  his  gate  with  a  stranger  to 
whom,  as  he  ended,  he  gave  some  money,  he 
enquired  who  the  stranger  was.  "One  of  our 
old  soldiers,"  said  the  General.  "To  whose 
command  did  he  belong?"  "Oh,  he  was  one 
of  those  who  fought  against  us,"  said  General 
Lee.  "But  we  are  all  one  now,  and  must  make 
no  difference  in  our  treatment  of  them." 

Thus,  in  simple  duties  and  simple  pleasures, 
untouched  by  the  slings  and  arrows  of  outra 
geous  fortune,  he  passed  life's  close  among  his 
own  people,  a  hallowed  memory  forever  to  those 
who  knew  him,  an  example  to  all  who  lived  in 
that  dark  time,  or  shall  live  hereafter;  the  pat 
tern  of  a  Christian  gentleman,  who  did  justice, 
loved  mercy,  and  walked  humbly  with  his  God. 

No  more  devout  or  humble  Christian  ever 
lived  than  he. 

His  last  active  work  was  done  in  a  vestry  meet 
ing  of  his  church,  whose  rector  was  one  of  his 

*  Rev.  J.  Wm.  Jones. 


LEE  AS  COLLEGE   PRESIDENT       279 

old  lieutenants,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  N.  Pendle- 
ton,  formerly  his  chief  of  artillery;  his  last 
conscious  act  was  to  ask  God's  blessing  at  his 
board.  As  he  ended,  his  voice  faltered  and  he 
sank  in  his  chajr. 

Surrounded  by  those  who  honored  and  loved 
him  best,  he  lingered  for  a  few  days,  murmur 
ing  at  times  orders  to  one  of  the  best  of  his  lieu 
tenants,  the  gallant  A.  P.  Hill,  who  had  fallen 
at  Five  Forks,  till  on  the  I2th  day  of  October, 
1870,  he  that  was  valiant  for  truth  passed  quietly 
to  meet  the  Master  he  had  served  so  well,  "and 
all  the  trumpets  sounded  for  him  on  the  other 
side." 

Many  places  claimed  the  honor  of  guarding 
his  sepulchre;  but  to  Lexington  it  was  fittingly 
awarded.  Here  he  lived  and  here  he  died,  and 
here  in  the  little  mountain  town  in  the  Valley 
of  Virginia  his  sacred  ashes  lie  hard  by  those  of 
his  great  lieutenant,  who,  in  the  fierce  sixties, 
was  his  right  arm. 

Happy  the  town  that  has  two  such  shrines! 
Happy  the  people  that  have  two  such  examples! 
Both  have  forever  ennobled  the  soldier's  pro 
fession,  where  to  face  death  in  obedience  to 
duty  is  a  mere  incident  of  the  life.  Both  were 
worthy  successors  of  that  noble  centurion  of 
whom  Christ  said,  "I  have  not  found  so  great 


28o  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

faith;  no,  not  in  Israel."  Well  may  we  apply 
to  him  his  own  words,  written  about  the  pro 
posal  to  remove  the  remains  of  the  Confederate 
dead  from  Gettysburg:  "I  know  of  no  fitter 
resting  place  for  a  soldier  than  the  field  on 
which  he  has  nobly  laid  down  his  life." 

To  those  of  us  who  knew  him  in  the  im 
pressionable  time  of  our  youth,  as,  untouched 
by  the  furious  railing  of  his  enemies,  he  passed 
the  evening  of  his  life  in  unruffled  calm,  he 
seems  the  model  of  a  knightly  gentleman,  ever 
loyal  to  duty  and  ever  valiant  for  truth. 

Well  might  he  have  said  with  that  other 
Valiant-for-truth :  "  My  sword  I  give  to  him  that 
shall  succeed  me  in  my  pilgrimage,  and  my  cour 
age  and  skill  to  him  that  can  get  it.  My  marks 
and  scars  I  carry  with  me  to  be  a  witness  for  me 
that  I  have  fought  His  battles  who  will  now  be 
my  rewarder." 

No  sooner  had  he  passed  away  than  the  ig 
noble  enemies  of  the  South,  safe  at  the  moment 
from  her  resentment,  set  forth  anew  to  insult 
her  people  by  the  rancor  of  their  insults  to  her 
honored  dead.  While  her  bells  were  tolling, 
the  halls  of  Congress  and  the  hostile  press  rang 
anew  with  diatribes  against  her  fallen  leader. 

But  the  wolfish  hatred  that  had  hounded  him 
so  long  and  now  broke  forth  in  one  last  bitter 


LEE  AS  COLLEGE  PRESIDENT      281 

chorus  was  soon  drowned  in  the  acclaim  of  the 
world  that  one  had  passed  away  whose  life  had 
honored  the  whole  human  race. 

The  world  had  already  recognized  and  fixed 
him  forever  among  her  constellation  of  great 
men,  and  the  European  press  vied  with  that 
of  the  South  in  rendering  him  the  tribute  of 
honor.  Thus,  the  only  effect  of  the  attacks 
made  on  him  by  the  enemies  of  the  South  was 
to  secure  for  them  the  hatred  or  contempt  of 
the  Southern  people. 

"As  obedient  to  law  as  Socrates,"  wrote  of 
him  one  who  had  studied  his  character  well,  and 
the  type  was  well  chosen.  All  through  his 
life  he  illustrated  this  virtue;  and  never  so  fully 
as  when  he  put  aside  high  preferment  in  the 
profession  he  so  passionately  loved  and  so  nobly 
illustrated  to  obey  the  laws  under  which  he  had 
been  reared  and  cast  in  his  lot  with  his  people, 
though  the  sacrifice  cost  him  tears  of  blood. 
Among  the  foolish  charges  made  by  some  in  the 
hour  of  passion  was  this:  that  he  believed  the 
South  would  win  in  the  war  and  achieve  its 
independence,  whereupon  he  would  be  its  idol. 
In  other  words,  that  he  was  lured  by  ambition. 
Only  ignorance  wedded  to  passion  could  assert 
so  baseless  a  charge.  Even  had  he  thus  imagined 
that  the  South  might  win  its  independence,  Lee 


282  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

was,  of  all  men,  the  last  to  be  swayed  by  such 
a  consideration.  But  as  a  fact,  we  know  that  it 
was  at  great  sacrifice  he  made  his  choice  and 
that  only  the  purest  motives  of  love  of  Liberty 
and  obedience  to  Duty  influenced  his  choice. 
The  entrance  of  Virginia  into  the  Confederacy 
of  the  South  threw  him  out  of  the  position  to 
which  his  rank  entitled  him.  But  while  others 
wrangled  and  scrambled  for  office  and  rank,  he 
with  utter  self-abnegation  declared  himself 
"willing  to  serve  anywhere  where  he  could  be 
most  useful."  And  it  is  known  to  those  who 
knew  him  well  that  at  one  time  he  even  thought 
of  enlisting  as  a  private  in  the  company  com 
manded  by  his  eldest  son,  Captain  G.  W.  C 
Lee.*  Such  simplicity  and  virtue  are  antique. 
Field  Marshall  Viscount  Wolseley,  referring 
long  afterward  to  his  first  meeting  with  Lee, 
in  the  summer  of  1862,  says:  "Every  incident 
in  that  visit  is  indelibly  stamped  on  my  memory. 
All  he  said  to  me  then  and  during  subsequent 
conversations  is  still  fresh  in  my  recollection. 
It  is  natural  it  should  be  so;  for  he  was  the 
ablest  general  and  to  me  seemed  the  greatest 
man  I  ever  conversed  with,  and  yet  I  have  had 
the  privilege  of  meeting  Von  Moltke  and  Prince 
Bismarck.  General  Lee  was  one  of  the  few 

*  Jones's  "Life  and  Letters  of  Robert  E.  Lee,"  p.  164. 


LEE  AS   COLLEGE   PRESIDENT       283 

men  who  ever  seriously  impressed  and  awed 
me  with  their  inherent  greatness.  Forty  years 
have  come  and  gone  since  our  meeting  and  yet 
the  majesty  of  his  manly  bearing,  the  genial, 
winning  grace,  the  sweetness  of  his  smile,  and 
the  impressive  dignity  of  his  old-fashioned  style 
of  dress,  come  back  to  me  among  my  most  cher 
ished  recollections.  His  greatness  made  me 
humble  and  I  never  felt  my  own  insignificance 
more  keenly  than  I  did  in  his  presence.  .  .  .  He 
was,  indeed,  a  beautiful  character,  and  of  him 
it  might  truthfully  be  written,  '  In  righteousness 
did  he  judge  and  make  war!" 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

SOURCES  OF  CHARACTER 

'  INHERE  is  something  in  all  of  us  that  responds 
to  the  magic  of  military  prowess.  That  wise 
observer,  Dr.  Johnson,  once  said:  "Every  man 
thinks  meanly  of  himself  for  not  having  been  a 
soldier  or  been  at  sea,"  and  when  Boswell  said, 
"Lord  Mansfield  would  not  be  ashamed  of  it," 
he  replied,  "Sir,  if  Lord  Mansfield  were  in  the 
presence  of  generals  and  admirals  who  had  seen 
service,  he  would  wish  to  creep  under  the  table. 
.  .  .  If  Socrates  and  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden 
were  in  company,  and  Socrates  should  say, 
*  Follow  me  and  hear  a  lecture  on  philosophy/ 
and  Charles  XII.  should  say,  'Follow  me  and 
help  me  to  dethrone  the  Czar/  a  man  would  be 
ashamed  to  follow  Socrates." 

Military  glory  is  so  dazzling  that  it  blinds 
wholly  most  men;  and  a  little  all  men.  An  Alex 
ander  conquering  worlds  until  he  weeps  because 
no  more  are  left  to  conquer;  a  Hannibal  crossing 
the  Alps  and  blowing  his  trumpets  outside  the 

very  gates  of  Rome;  Caesar  and  Napoleon  over- 

284 


SOURCES  OF  CHARACTER  285 

sweeping  Europe  with  their  victorious  eagles, 
are  so  splendid  that  the  radiance  of  their  achieve 
ments  makes  us  forget  the  men  they  were.  Alex 
ander  carousing  at  Babylon;  Caesar  plotting 
to  overthrow  his  country's  liberties;  Napoleon 
steeping  the  world  in  blood,  but  bickering  in  his 
confinement  at  St.  Helena,  are  not  pleasant  to 
contemplate.  There  the  habiliments  of  majesty 
are  wanting;  the  gauds  of  pomp  are  stripped 
off  and  we  see  the  men  at  their  true  worth. 

Now,  let  us  turn  for  a  moment  to  Lee.  Had 
we  known  him  only  as  the  victor  of  Mechanics- 
ville,  Fredericksburg,  Manassas,  Chancellors- 
ville  and  Cold  Harbor,  we  should  have,  indeed, 
thought  him  a  supreme  soldier.  But  should  we 
have  known  the  best  of  him  ?  Without  Gettys 
burg,  without  the  long  campaign  of  1864,  with 
out  the  siege  of  Petersburg  and  without  Appo- 
mattox,  should  we  have  dreamed  of  the  sublime 
greatness  of  the  man  ? 

History  may  be  searched  in  vain  to  find  Lee's 
superior,  and  only  once  or  twice  in  its  long 
course  will  be  found  his  equal.  To  find  his 
prototype,  we  must  go  back  to  ancient  times, 
to  the  half-legendary  heroes  who  have  been 
handed  down  to  us  by  Plutarch's  matchless 
portraiture;  yet,  as  we  read  their  story,  we  see 
that  we  have  been  given  but  one  side  of  their 


286  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

character.  Their  weaknesses  have  mainly  been 
lost  in  the  lapse  of  centuries,  and  their  virtues 
are  magnified  in  the  enhaloing  atmosphere  of 
time.  But,  as  to  Lee,  we  know  his  every  act. 

There  was  no  act  nor  incident  of  his  life  on 
which  a  light  as  fierce  as  that  which  beats  upon 
a  throne  did  not  fall.  He  had  in  his  lifetime 
what  Macaulay,  in  speaking  of  Dr.  Johnson, 
terms  "posthumous  fame."  He  was  investi 
gated  by  high  commissions;  his  every  act  was 
examined  by  hostile  prosecutors.  His  conduct 
was  inquired  into  by  those  who  had  every  in 
centive  of  hostility  to  secure  his  downfall  and 
his  degradation.  Yet,  amid  these  fierce  as 
saults,  he  remained  as  unmoved  as  he  had  stood 
when  he  had  held  the  heights  of  Fredericks- 
burg  against  the  furious  attacks  of  Burnside's 
intrepid  infantry.  From  this  inquisition  he 
came  forth  as  unsoiled  as  the  mystic  White 
Knight  of  the  Round  Table.  In  that  vivid 
glare  he  stood  revealed  like  the  angel  bathed 
in  light;  the  closest  scrutiny  but  brought  forth 
new  virtues  and  disclosed  a  more  rounded  char 
acter: 

"Like  Launcelot  brave,  like  Galahad  clean." 

Had  he  been  Regulus,  we  know  that  he  would 
have  returned  to  Carthage  with  undisquieted 


SOURCES   OF  CHARACTER  287 

brow  to  meet  his  doom.  Had  he  been  Aristides, 
we  know  that  he  would  have  faithfully  inscribed 
his  name  on  the  shell  entrusted  to  him  for  his 
banishment.  Had  he  been  Caesar,  none  but 
a  fool  would  have  dared  to  offer  him  a  crown. 
Ambition  could  not  have  tempted  him;  Ease 
could  not  have  beguiled  him;  Pleasure  could  not 
have  allured  him. 

Should  we  come  down  to  later  times,  where 
shall  we  find  his  counterpart,  unless  we  take 
the  Bayards,  the  Sidneys  and  the  Falklands, 
the  highest  of  the  noblest  ? 

So,  to  get  his  character  as  it  is  known  to  thou 
sands,  we  must  take  the  best  that  was  in  the 
best  that  the  history  of  men  has  preserved. 
Something  of  Plato's  calm  there  was;  all  of 
Sidney's  high-mindedness;  of  Bayard's  fearless 
and  blameless  life;  of  the  constancy  of  William 
the  Silent,  of  whom  it  was  said  that  he  was 
Tranquillus  in  arduis.  It  has  been  finely  said 
of  him*  that,  "He  was  Caesar  without  his  ambi 
tion,  Frederick  without  his  tyranny,  Napoleon 
without  his  selfishness  and  Washington  without 
his  reward." 

But  most  of  all,   h 


Here  —  in  that  great  Virginian  —  and  here  only  do 
we  find  what  appears  to  be  an  absolute  parallel. 

*  By  Senator  Hill  of  Georgia. 


288  ROBERT  E.   LEE 

Something  must  account  for  this  wonderful 
development.  Character  does  not  reach  such 
consummate  flowering  alone,  and  by  accidental 
cause!  It  is  a  product  of  various  forces  and 
such  a  character  as  Lee's  is  the  product  of  high 
forces  met  in  conjunction.  Genius  may  be  born 
anywhere;  it  is  a  result  of  prenatal  forces.  A 
Keats  may  come  from  a  horse-jobber's  fireside; 
a  Columbus  may  spring  from  a  wool-comber's 
home;  a  Burns  may  come  from  an  Ayrshire  cot 
tage;  but  it  is  a  law  of  Nature  that  character 
is  a  result  largely  of  surrounding  conditions, 
previous  or  present. 

A  distinguished  scholar*  has  called  attention 
to  the  resemblance  between  the  situation  of  the 
Southerners  in  the  Civil  War  and  the  Southern 
Greeks  in  the  Peloponesan  War.  He  has 
further  noted  the  resemblance  in  certain  funda 
mental  elements  of  character  between  the  Vir 
ginians  and  both  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans, 
marking  particularly  their  poise,  a  poise  unaf 
fected  by  conditions  which  might  startle  or 
seduce.  The  Greeks  and  the  Romans  were 
both  peoples  of  the  South,  and  like  the  Southern 
people  whose  character  Lee  illustrated,  their 
successes  were  founded  upon  their  character  as 
a  people,  among  the  elements  of  which  were  a 

*  Dr.  Basil  L.  Gildersleeve. 


SOURCES  OF  CHARACTER  289 

passion  for  liberty  and  a  passion  for  dominance. 
It  was  this  poise  which  Lee  illustrated  so  ad 
mirably  throughout  life,  a  poise  which,  as  Dr. 
Gildersleeve  has  said,  gave  opportunity  for  first 
the  undazzled  vision,  and  then  the  swoop  of  the 
eagle. 

Whatever  open  hostility  or  carping  criticism 
may  say  in  derogation  of  Southern  life,  and  it 
may  be  admitted  that  there  was  liable  to  be  the 
waste  and  inertia  of  all  life  that  is  easy  and 
secluded;  yet,  the  obvious,  the  unanswerable  re 
ply  is  that  it  produced  such  a  character  as  Rob 
ert  E.  Lee.  As  Washington  was  the  consum 
mate  flower  of  the  life  of  Colonial  Virginia,  so 
Lee,  clinging  close  to  "his  precious  example," 
became  the  perfect  fruit  of  her  later  civilization. 

It  was  my  high  privilege  to  know  him  when 
I  was  a  boy.  It  was  also  my  privilege  to  see 
something  of  that  army  which  followed  him 
throughout  the  war,  and  on  whose  courage 
and  fortitude  his  imperishable  glory  as  a  cap 
tain  is  founded.  I  question  whether  in  all  the 
army  under  his  command  was  one  man  who 
had  his  genius;  but  I  believe  that  in  character, 
he  was  but  the  type  of  his  order,  and  as  noble 
as  was  his,  ten  thousand  gentlemen  marched 
behind  him  who,  in  all  the  elements  of  private 
character,  were  his  peers. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  HERITAGE  OF  THE  SOUTH 

T  STOOD  not  a  great  while  ago  on  the  most  im- 
pressive  spot,  perhaps,  in  all  Europe:  be 
neath  the  majestic  dome  of  the  Invalides  where 
stands  the  tomb  of  Napoleon.  It  was  a  summer 
evening,  and  we  descended  the  steps  and  stood  at 
the  door  of  the  crypt  where  repose  the  ashes  of 
him  who  was  doubtless  the  greatest  soldier  of 
all  time;  who  by  his  genius  took  France  from 
the  throes  of  a  revolution  and  lifted  her  while 
he  lived,  to  the  head  of  the  nations.  Just  then 
the  hour  came  for  closing,  and  suddenly  in  the 
marble  rotunda  above  us  began  the  roll  of  a 
drum,  which  swelled  and  throbbed  until  the 
whole  earth  seemed  reverberating  to  its  martial 
tone.  It  was  the  long  roll  which  had  sounded 
before  so  many  hard-fought  fields,  and  as  it 
throbbed  and  throbbed  in  the  falling  dusk  of 
that  summer  evening,  there  seemed  to  troop  be 
fore  the  mental  vision  the  long  lines  that  had 
fought  and  fallen  on  so  many  a  glorious  field: 

290 


THE  HERITAGE  OF  THE  SOUTH    291 

the  soldiers  of  Lodi  and  of  Austerlitz,  of  Fried- 
land  and  Wagram  and  Borodino. 

So,  as  I  have  immersed  myself  in  the  subject 
of  this  great  captain  and  noble  gentleman,  there 
has  appeared  to  come  before  me  from  a  misty 
past  that  other  army,  inspired  by  higher  mo 
tives — by  the  highest  motive :  love  of  Liberty,  on 
whose  imperishable  deeds  is  founded  the  fame 
of  an  even  greater,  because  a  nobler  soldier;  that 
army  of  the  South,  composed  not  only  of  the 
best  that  the  South  had,  but  wellnigh  of  all  she 
had.  Gentle  and  simple,  old  and  young,  rich 
and  poor,  secessionist  and  anti-secessionist, 
with  every  difference  laid  aside,  animated  by 
one  common  spirit:  love  of  country,  they  flocked 
to  the  defence  of  the  South.  Through  four  years 
they  withstood  to  the  utmost  the  fiercest  assaults 
of  fortune,  and  submitted  only  with  their  anni 
hilation. 

"The  benediction  of  the  o'ercovering  Heavens 
Fall  on  their  heads  like  dew,  for  they  were  worthy 
To  inlay  Heaven  with  stars." 

Through  more  than  twice  four  years  their 
survivors  and  their  children  endured  what  was 
bitterer  than  the  sharpest  agony  of  the  battle- 
time,  and  strong  in  the  consciousness  of  their 
rectitude,  came  out  torn  and  bleeding,  but 


292  ROBERT   E.   LEE 

victorious.  Such  fortitude,  such  courage  and 
sublime  constancy  cannot  be  in  vain.  The 
blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  church; 
so  the  blood  of  patriots  is  the  seed  of  liberty. 
~TTie  history  of  their  valor  and  their  fortitude 
in  defence  of  Constitutional  Liberty  is  the  heri 
tage  of  the  South,  a  heritage  in  which  the  North 
will  one  day  be  proud  to  claim  a  share,  as  she 
will  be  the  sharer  in  their  work. 
""Some  day,  doubtless,  there  will  stand  in  the 
Nation's  capital  a  great  monument  to  Lee, 
erected  not  only  by  the  Southern  people,  whose 
glory  it  is  that  he  was  the  fruit  of  their  civiliza 
tion  and  the  leader  of  their  armies;  but  by  the 
American  people,  whose  pride  it  will  be  that  he 
was  their  fellow-citizen.  Meantime  he  has  a 
nobler  monument  than  can  be  built  of  marble 
or  of  brass.  His  monument  is  the  adoration  of 
the  South;  his  shrine  is  in  every  Southern  heart. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX  A 

EXTRACTS  FROM  LETTER  TO  AUTHOR  FROM 
GENERAL   MARCUS  J.  WRIGHT 

WASHINGTON,  September  26,  1907. 
********* 

THE  military  population  (men  between  eighteen 
and  forty-five  years  old,  not  exempt  by  law)  of  the 
Northern  States  in  1860,  was  3,769,020,  omitting 
California,  Colorado,  Dakota,  District  of  Columbia, 
Nebraska,  Nevada,  New  Mexico,  Oregon,  Washing 
ton  Territory  and  West  Virginia,  not  given  in  the 
tables,  but  which  may  be  stated  as  aggregating  135,627. 
This  added  to  3,769,020,  the  military  population  of 
eighteen  Northern  States  makes  a  total  of  3,904,647 
subject  to  military  duty  in  the  States  and  Territories 
of  the  North. 

The  military  population  of  the  Southern  States 
(exclusive  of  Kentucky,  Maryland  and  Missouri)  in 
1860,  was  1,064,193.  Deducting  from  this  number 
the  86,009  tnat  entered  the  Federal  service  and  80,000, 
the  estimated  number  of  Union  men  who  did  not 
take  up  arms,  there  remained  to  the  Confederacy 
898,184  men  capable  of  bearing  arms  from  which 
to  draw. 

295 


296  APPENDIX 

It  stands  thus: 

Military  population  of  the  North     3,904,647 
Military  population  of  the  South        898,184 

Difference  in  favor  of  the  North  3,006,463 
The  military  population  in  1860: 

Of  Kentucky 180,589 

"  Maryland 102,715 

'  Missouri 232,781 

516,085 

These  three  States  gave  to  the  Federal  army  231,509 
men.  Of  these  190,744  were  whites  and  40,765  were 
negroes. 

An  official  published  statement  of  the  Adjutant- 
General  of  the  United  States  Army  gives  the  total 
number  of  men  called  for  and  furnished  to  the  United 
States  Army  from  April  15,  1861,  to  the  close  of  the 
war  as  2,865,028  men.  Of  this  number  186,017  were 
negroes  and  494,900  were  foreigners. 

From  all  reliable  data  that  could  be  secured,  it  has 
been  estimated  by  the  best  authorities  that  the  strength 
of  the  Confederate  armies  was  about  600,000  men, 
and  of  this  number  not  more  than  two-thirds  were 
available  for  active  duty  in  the  field.  The  necessity 
of  guarding  a  long  line  of  exposed  seacoast,  of  main 
taining  permanent  garrisons  at  different  posts  on  inland 
waters,  and  at  numerous  other  points,  deprived  the 
Confederate  Army  in  the  field  of  an  accession  of 
strength. 


APPENDIX  297 

The  large  preponderance  of  Federal  forces  was 
manifest  in  all  the  important  battles  and  campaigns 
of  the  war.  The  largest  force  ever  assembled  by  the 
Confederates  was  at  the  seven  days'  fight  around 
Richmond. 

General  Lee's  report  showed  80,835  men  present 
for  duty,  when  the  movement  against  General  Mc- 
Clellan  commenced,  and  the  Federal  forces  numbered 
115,249. 

At  Antietam  the  Federals  had  87,164,  and  the 
Confederates  35,255. 

At  Fredericksburg  the  Federals  had  110,000  and 
the  Confederates  78,110. 

At  Chancellorsville  the  Federals  had  131,661,  of 
which  number  only  90,000  were  engaged,  and  the 
Confederates  had  57,212. 

At  Gettysburg  the  Federals  had  95,000,  and  the 
Confederates  44,000. 

At  the  Wilderness  the  Federals  had  141,160,  and 
the  Confederates  63,981. 

At  the  breaking  of  the  Confederate  lines  at  Peters 
burg,  April  i,  1865,  General  Lee  commenced  his  re 
treat  with  32,000  men,  and  eight  days  after  he  surren 
dered  to  General  Grant,  who  had  a  force  of  1 20,000  men. 

From  the  latter  part  of  1862  until  the  close  of  the 
war  in  1865,  there  was  a  constant  decrease  of  the 
numerical  strength  of  the  Confederate  Army.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  records  show  that  during  that 
time  the  Federal  Army  was  strengthened  to  the  extent 
of  363,390  men. 


298  APPENDIX 

The  available  strength  of  the  Confederate  Army  at 
the  close  of  the  war  has  been  the  subject  of  much 
discussion. 

Estimates  have  been  made  varying  from  150,000 
to  250,000  men. 

The  number  of  paroles  issued  to  Confederate  sol 
diers  may  be  taken  as  a  basis  of  calculation.  Mr. 
Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War,  on  November  22, 
1865,  made  the  following  official  statement  of  pris 
oners,  surrendered  by  different  Confederate  armies 
that  were  paroled: 

Army  of  Northern  Virginia    .     .     .  27,805 

Army  of  Tennessee        3J,243 

Army  of  Missouri 7>97^ 

Army  of  Department  of  Alabama  .  42,293 

Army  of  Trans-Mississippi  Dept.    .  17,686 

Army  of  Department  of  Florida      .  6,428 

133433 

Miscellaneous  Departments  of  Vir 
ginia  9,072 

Cumberland,  Maryland,  &c.      .     .  9,377 

Department  of  Washington    .     .     .  3>3QO 

In  Virginia,  Tennessee,  Georgia, 

Alabama,  Louisiana  and  Texas  .  13,922 

Nashville  and  Chattanooga    .     .     .  5,029 

40,790 

These  two  lists  aggregate  174,223,  the  number  of 
paroled  Confederates  reported  by  Secretary  Stanton. 


APPENDIX  299 

Those  who  have  estimated  the  strength  of  the  Con 
federate  Army  at  the  close  of  the  war  at  250,000 
reached  that  result  by  adding  to  the  174,223  the 
number  of  men,  75,777,  which  they  assumed  to  have 
returned  to  their  homes  without  paroles.  If  this 
were  true,  it  would  appear,  taking  into  account  the 
40,790  men  reported  as  paroled  at  various  places, 
that  116,567  Confederate  soldiers  did  not  surrender, 
and  were  not  paroled  with  the  armies  to  which  they 
belonged. 

This  is  at  variance  with  the  estimated  strength  of 
these  armies  just  previous  to  the  surrender. 

The  report  of  Secretary  Stanton  is  misleading,  be 
cause  it  conveys  the  impression  that  the  174,223  men 
reported  as  paroled  were  bearing  arms  at  the  time  of 
their  surrender.  An  examination  of  the  parole  lists 
shows  that  such  was  not  the  case.  These  lists  em 
brace  men  in  hospitals,  men  retired  from  the  army  by 
reason  of  disability  and  non-arms  bearing  men  who 
sought  paroles  as  a  safeguard.  There  were  Con 
federate  soldiers  who  returned  to  their  homes  without 
paroles,  but  they  did  not  exceed  in  number  those  em 
braced  in  Secretary  Stanton 's  list,  that  were  not  borne 
upon  the  roll. 

In  April,  1865,  the  aggregate  of  present  and  absent 
showed  the  strength  of  the  Confederate  Army  to  be 
about  275,000  men.  Of  this  number  65,387  were  in 
Federal  military  prisons  and  52,000  were  absent  by 
reason  of  disability  and  other  causes.  Deducting  the 
total  of  these  two  numbers,  117,387  from  275,000,  we 


300  APPENDIX 

have  157,613  as  showing  the  full  effective  strength  of 
the  Confederate  Army  at  the  close  of  the  war: 

SUMMARY 

Strength  of  Federal  Army  at  close  of  war: 
Present      .........     797,807 

Absent  .........         202,700 

1,000,507 

Strength  of  Confederate  Army  at  close  of  war: 
Present      .........     157,613 

Absent       .........     I1>% 


275,000 

****** 
(Signed) 

MARCUS  J.  WRIGHT. 


EXTRACT  FROM  LETTER  TO  AUTHOR  FROM  COLONEL 
THOMAS  C.  LIVERMORE 

GRANT'S  ARMY  PRESENT  FOR  DUTY 

On  the  Rapidan  and  James,  April  30,  1864,  168,198 
(68  War  Records— 69  W.  R.,  195-198-427). 

On  the  James,  May,  31,  1864,  133,728  (69  W.  R., 
426-427). 

On  the  James,  January  3 1, 1865,  99,214  (95  W.  R.,6i). 

On  the  James,  February  25,  1865,  98,457  (Ibid.). 

On  the  James,  March  31,  1865,  100,907  (Ibid.). 

LEE'S    ARMY   PRESENT   FOR   DUTY 

On  the  Rapidan  and  James,  Army  of  North  Virginia, 
April  30,  1864,  54,344  (60  W.  R.,  1,297-1,298). 

2  div.  and  McLaw's  brigade  (est.  1,253)  of  Longstreet's 
corps,  March  31,  1864,  10,428*  (59  W.  R.,  721). 

Dept.  of  Richmond,  April  20,  1864,  7,265  (60  W.  R., 
1,299). 
Total,  72,037. 

On  the  James,  January  31,  1865,  57,387!  (95  W.  R., 
386-95  W.  R.,  387,  388,  389,  390). 

*  Colonel  Taylor  of  Lee's  staff  and  Longstreet  in  their  books 
estimate  Longstreet's  command  at  10,000. 

t  Excluding  the  cavalry  of  the  Valley  District,  the  number  of 
which  is  not  reported,  but  probably  was  about  1,000  (Warren  Court, 
482). 

301 


302  APPENDIX 

On  the  James,  February  25,  1865,  63,500.* 
On  the  James,  March  31,  1865,  56,840!  (97  W.  R., 
1,331,  Warren  Court,  482). 

(Signed)  T.  C.  LIVERMORE. 

*  The  number  of  the  infantry  estimated  at  about  7  per  cent,  and 
the  cavalry  at  about  15  per  cent,  more  than  the  "effectives"  re 
ported. 

f  The  result  of  deducting  estimated  losses  and  desertions  re 
ported  and  estimated,  at  6,760  for  March,  from  number  given 
above  for  February,  25, 


APPENDIX  B 

EXTRACT  FROM  LETTER  TO  AUTHOR  FROM  ANDREW 
R.  ELLERSON,  ESQ.,  OF  ELLERSON'S,  HANOVER 
COUNTY,  VA. 

RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  June  10,  1908. 
********** 
BEFORE  the  battles  around  Richmond  began,  my 
regiment  (4th  Virginia  Cavalry)  was  encamped  on 
the  extreme  left  of  the  army  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Goodairs.  The  day  before  the  battle  of  Mechanics- 
ville,  my  company  (Company  G)  was  detached  from 
the  regiment  and  camped  that  night  at  Emanuel 
Church,  a  few  miles  north  of  Richmond.  The  next 
morning  Jack  Stark  and  myself  were  ordered  to  report 
to  General  Longstreet,  for  what  purpose  we  had  no 
idea,  but  congratulated  ourselves  upon  the  fact  that  we 
should  at  least  make  a  good  breakfast.  *  *  *  The 
evening  of  the  battle  of  Cold  Harbor,  General  Long- 
street  got  each  division  of  his  corps  and  placed  them  in 
position.  This  was  just  before  the  battle  com 
menced.  I  stood  in  the  front  until  the  bullets  were 
flying  thick  and  fast,  and  feeling  very  uncomfortable, 
and  having  no  business  there,  I  thought  I  would  retire 
to  a  hill  in  the  rear  where  I  could  have  the  pleasure  of 

303 


3o4  APPENDIX 

looking  on  at  a  battle  without  being  in  any  apparent 
danger.  Upon  this  hill  I  found  General  Jackson, 
seated  entirely  alone  upon  his  horse.  We  had  been 
there  some  time  when  a  shell  burst  some  few  feet  to  his 
left,  and  in  a  few  minutes  a  second  shell  burst.  Even 
before  this  time  I  had  become  again  very  uncomfort 
able,  and  would  have  liked  very  much  to  change  my 
position,  but  I  did  not  like  to  show  the  white  feather 
in  the  presence  of  General  Jackson,  who  had  not 
winced,  but  after  the  second  shell  had  burst  near  him, 
he  remarked  in  a  quiet  way,  "When  two  shells  burst 
near  you  it  is  well  to  change  your  position  if  you  can 
do  so,'*  so  we  both  rode  some  distance  to  our  right 
and  got  out  of  range  of  the  bullets. 

That  night  General  Lee  and  General  Longstreet 
made  their  head-quarters  in  Hogan's  dwelling.  I  was 
sitting  on  the  steps  of  this  building  about  ten  o'clock, 
when  General  Jackson  rode  up  with  Lincoln  Sydnor, 
who  was  his  guide  on  this  occasion.  General  Jackson 
gave  his  horse  to  Sydnor  to  hold  and  went  into  the 
house,  as  I  afterward  learned,  for  a  consultation  with 
all  of  the  higher  officials  of  the  army.  Sydnor  told  me 
that  the  reason  General  Jackson  reached  Cold  Harbor 
as  late  as  he  did  was  due  to  the  fact  that,  although  he 
was  very  near  his  old  home,  and  where  he  was  perfectly 
familiar  with  the  country,  the  Yankees  had  cut  down 
so  many  trees  and  made  so  many  new  roads  that  he 
actually  got  lost,  and  that  just  before  reaching  the 
point  to  which  General  Jackson  had  directed  him  to 
guide  him,  he  found  that  he  was  on  the  wrong  road, 


APPENDIX  305 

and  had  to  turn  round  the  artillery  in  the  woods  and 
had  to  countermarch  for  quite  a  distance,  which  de 
layed  them  very  materially.  Sydnor  told  me  that 
General  Ewell,  who  was  present,  wanted  to  hang  him 
to  a  tree,  but  General  Jackson  said  it  was  all  right; 
that  we  would  get  there  in  plenty  of  time.  You  know 
General  Jackson  has  been  frequently  blamed  for  being 
late  on  this  occasion,  and  it  has  often  occurred  to  me 
that  this  simple  reason  may  have  been  the  cause  of  it, 
although  I  never  heard  it  so  stated.  *  *  * 

With  best  wishes  and  kind  remembrances,  I  am 
*     *     *  Yours, 

A.  R.  ELLERSON. 


NOTE 

To  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  I  wish,  before  closing  this  brief 
memoir,  to  make  my  acknowledgments  for  his  courage,  his  breadth 
and  the  classic  charm  of  his  recent  addresses  on  Lee.  He  is  the 
worthy  son  and  namesake  of  that  true  gentleman  who,  when 
taunted  in  England  with  the  victories  won  by  the  Confederate 
generals,  replied  nobly,  "  They  are  my  countrymen."  It  was  the 
same  note  which  Lee  sounded  at  Chambersburg  in  his  order  to 
his  then  conquering  army  and  which  he  ever  sounded  to  the  end. 

T.  N.  P. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


ADAMS,  CHARLES  FRANCIS,  SR., 
mentioned,  57;  his  estimate 
of  Lee,  155;  his  opinion  of 
the  Southern  Army,  175; 
prevents  the  delivery  of  iron 
clads  by  England  to  the 
Confederacy,  230-231. 

BLAIR,  THE  HON.  MONTGOM 
ERY,  mentioned,  3  2. 

Blair,  The  Hon.  Francis  P., 
mentioned,  32. 

Beauregard,  General,  C.  S.  A., 
mentioned,  53. 

Butler,  Benjamin,  General,  U. 
S.  A.  mentioned,  91;  his 
order  in  Louisiana,  166. 

CAMERON,  THE  HON.  SIMON, 
mentioned,  32. 

Carter,  Anne,  mother  of  R.  E. 
Lee,  mentioned,  5. 

Cobb,  Howell,  General,  C.  S.  A., 
mentioned,  168. 

Cold  Harbor,  battle  of,  208- 
209. 

Custis,  Mary  Parke,  her  mar 
riage  to  R.  E.  Lee,  16. 

DAVIS,  JEFFERSON,  his  letter 
to  General  Lee  after  Gettys 
burg,  198-200. 

Douglass,  Colonel,  C.  S.  A., 
killed  at  Sharpsburg,  129. 

Du  Pont,  Admiral,  U.  S.  N., 
reduces  the  forts  on  Port 
•Royal  Inlet,  90. 


ELLERSON,  ANDREW  R.,  letter 
from,  Appendix  B,  303-305. 

Ewell,  General,  C.  S.  A.,  at  the 
battle  of  Sharpsburg,  1  29. 

FARRAGUT,  ADMIRAL,  U.  S.  N., 

leads  his  fleet  up  the  Missis 

sippi,  91. 
Floyd,  General,  C.  S.  A.,  men 

tioned,   77;   mentioned,    159. 
Franklin,  General,  U.  S.  A.,  at 

the  battle  of  Sharpsburg,  132. 
Fredericksburg,  battle  of,  141- 

145- 

Freemantle,  Colonel,  officer  of 
the  British  Army.  His  esti 
mate  of  the  Southern  Army, 


GARNETT,  GENERAL,  U.  S.  A., 
mentioned,  77. 

Games'  Mill,  battle  of,  102- 
103. 

Gettysburg,  battle  of,  181-197. 

Gordon,  General,  C.  S.  A.,  at 
the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  182. 

Grant,  General  U.  S.,  as  a  slave 
holder,  46;  mentioned,  58- 
59;  author's  opinion  of  his 
character,  214;  crosses  the 
Rapidan,  222;  adverse  criti 
cism  of,  224;  his  losses  in 
the  Wilderness  campaign, 
226-227;  his  generosity  and 
magnanimity,  256;  his  de 
fence  of  Lee  after  Appo- 
mattox,  262. 


3°9 


3io 


INDEX 


Greeley,  Horace.  His  criticism 
of  Lincoln's  methods,  135. 

HAMPTON,  WADE,  GENERAL, 
C.  S.  A.,  mentioned,  55. 

Hartford  Convention,  the,  men 
tioned,  40. 

Henderson,  Colonel  G.  F.  R., 
biographer  of  Stonewall  Jack 
son,  40-41;  quoted,  49-50; 
quoted,  60;  his  account  of  the 
battle  of  Chancellorsville, 
149. 

Hill,  A.  P.,  General,  C.  S.  A., 
fight  at  Meadow  Bridge,  101; 
mentioned,  279. 

Hill,  D.  H.,  C.  S.  A.,  capture  of 
Lee's  plan  of  battle  in  his 
camp,  123-124. 

Hood,  General,  C.  S.  A.,  de 
struction  of  his  army  at 
Nashville,  231. 

Hooker,  Fighting  Joe,  General 
in  command  of  the  army  of 
the  Potomac,  147. 

JACKSON,  STONEWALL,  GEN 
ERAL,  C.  S.  A.,  his  devotion 
to  duty,  56;  mentioned,  77; 
explanation  of  his  delay  at 
Ashland,  104-107;  captures 
Harper's  Ferry,  127;  sent  by 
Lee  around  Hooker's  right  at 
Chancellorsville,  148;  attacks 
at  Bristow  Station,  153. 

Janney,  Hon.  John,  speech  of, 
71-72. 

Johnson,  Reverdy,  mentioned, 
32. 

Johnson,  President,  his  treat 
ment  of  the  South,  263. 

Johnston,  Albert  Sydney,  Gen 
eral,  C.  S.  A.,  death  of,  at 
Shiloh,  90. 

Johnston,  Joseph,  General, 
C.  S.  A.,  mentioned,  15;  at 
tacks  Keys  at  Seven  Pines, 
92;  relieved  from  his  com 
mand,  230. 


Jones,  J.  R.,  General,  C.  S.  A., 
commander  of  Jackson's  di 
vision  at  Sharpsburg,  129. 

KANAWHA,  the,  mentioned,  77. 

LAWTON,  GENERAL,  C.  S.  A., 
wounded  at  Sharpsburg,  129. 

Lee,  Richard,  founder  of  the 
Lee  family  in  America,  offers 
Charles  II  a  kingdom  in 
Virginia,  4. 

Lee,  Thomas,  grandson  of 
Richard  Lee,  mentioned,  3. 

Lee,  Francis  Lightfoot,  uncle 
of  Robert  Lee,  mentioned,  4. 

Lee,  Richard  Henry,  father  of 
R.  E.  Lee,  mentioned,  4;  his 
letter  to  Mr.  Madison,  38. 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  birth  of,  4; 
ancestry  of,  5-6;  the  influ 
ence  of  Washington's  char 
acter  on,  8-1  o;  his  care  of  his 
mother  and  boyhood  char 
acter,  10-12;  enters  West 
Point,  13-14;  Joseph  E. 
Johnston's  opinion  of,  15-16; 
marries  Mary  Parke  Custis, 
1 6;  his  first  service,  18;  ser 
vice  in  the  Mexican  war,  19- 
23;  capture  of  John  Brown 
by,  24;  his  letters  to  his  wife 
quoted,  24-25;  manumits 
his  slaves,  31;  offered  com 
mand  of  U.  S.  army  by  Presi 
dent  Lincoln,  32;  resigns 
his  commission  in  U.  S.  army , 
34;  letter  to  his  wife  in  1856 
showing  his  feeling  for  the 
United  States,  42;  his  oppo 
sition  to  secession,  43-44; 
his  opposition  to  a  dissolu 
tion  of  the  Union,  50;  letter 
to  General  Scott,  52-53;  let 
ter  to  General  Beauregard, 
53-54;  greatness  of  Lee  as  a 
soldier  and  the  resources  at 
his  command,  57-65;  his  re 
ply  to  the  Hon.  John  Janney, 


INDEX 


311 


Lee,  Robert  E.— Continued. 
72-73;  assumes  command  in 
West  Virginia,  78;  failure  to 
capture  Rosecrans  at  Sewell's 
Mountain,  80;  failure  of  his 
first  campaign,  81;  appointed 
military  adviser  to  Jefferson 
Davis,  82;  placed  in  com 
mand  of  the  Confederate 
forces,  92;  keeps  Fremont 
and  McDowell  from  rein 
forcing  McClellan,  98;  de 
fence  of  Richmond,  96-103; 
plan  for  defeat  of  McClellan, 
100;  sends  Jackson  to  circle 
Pope's  right,  114;  makes  a 
stand  at  Sharpsburg,  126; 
general  order  of,  issued  to  his 
army  after  Sharpsburg,  135- 
137;  refuses  to  retreat  after 
Antietam,  135;  zenith  of 
his  fame,  145;  credit  given 
for  winning  Chancellorsville, 
149;  not  informed  by  Stuart 
that  Meade  was  at  Gettys 
burg,  152;  his  letter  to  Long- 
street  after  Gettysburg,  153; 
letter  to  General  G.  W.  C. 
Lee,  156;  his  confidence  in  his 
army,  160;  his  belief  in  God, 
162;  his  general  order  at 
Chambersburg,  Pa.,  163; 
his  error  at  Gettysburg,  176; 
plans  to  invade  the  North, 
178;  his  letter  to  Jefferson 
Davis  after  Gettysburg,  194- 
197;  letters  of,  showing  con 
dition  of  Confederate  army 
after  the  Wilderness,  216- 
222;  his  letter  to  the  Hon. 
T.  A.  Seddon,  232-234;  his 
last  stand  at  Appomattox, 
246-252;  his  character  in  de 
feat,  253-260;  his  tribute  to 
Grant,  257;  his  soldiers' 
tribute  to,  after  the  sur 
render,  257;  his  treatment 
by  President  Johnson  after 
the  surrender,  261-262;  as 


a  college  president,  269-283; 
his  death,  279;  his  character, 
284-292. 

Lee,  Wm.  H.  F.,  General, 
C.  S.  A.,  son  of  Robert  E. 
Lee,  mentioned,  163;  held  as 
hostage  by  U.  S.  Army, 
164. 

Lee,  G.  W.  C.,  General,  C.  S. 
A.  son  of  Robert  E.  Lee, 
164. 

Livermore,  Colonel  T.  C.,  his 
letter  to  author  giving  esti 
mate  of  Grant's  army,  Ap 
pendix  A,  301-302. 

Longstreet,  General,  conduct 
at  the  battle  of  Manassas, 
118;  his  conduct  at  Gettys 
burg  responsible  for  the  de 
feat  of  Lee,  177;  neglects  to 
attack  at  Gettysburg,  185; 
his  defence  of  his  failure  to 
attack  at  Gettysburg,  187- 
188;  wounded,  205. 

Loring,  General,  C.  S.  A., 
mentioned,  77. 

MCCLELLAN,  GEORGE  B.,  GEN 
ERAL,  U.  S.  A.,  his  plans 
for  attack  on  Richmond,  86- 
88;  besieges  Yorktown,  89; 
checked  at  Williamsburg, 
93;  relieves  Harper's  Ferry, 
124;  refuses  to  allow  Frank 
lin  to  attack  at  Sharpsburg, 
133;  Lee's  opinion  of,  140. 

McDowell,  General,  U.  S.  A., 
mentioned,  93. 

Mclntosh,  Colonel,  U.  S.  A, 
capture  of  his  battery  at 
Sharpsburg,  133. 

McLaws,  General,  C.  S.  A., 
mentioned,  125. 

Malvern  Hill,  battle  of,  97. 

Manassas,  second  battle  of, 
117-120. 

Marshall,  Colonel  Charles,  C. 
S.  A.,  member  of  Lee's  staff, 
154. 


3I2 


INDEX 


Meade,  General,  U.  S.  A., 
mentioned  at  battle  of 
Sharpsburg,  130;  at  Gettys 
burg,  183. 

PENDLETON,  WM.  N.,  GEN 
ERAL,  C.  S.  A.,  Lee's  Chief 
of  Artillery,  184. 

Porter,  Fitz  John,  General, 
U.  S.  A.,  mentioned,  98; 
mentioned,  121. 

Pope,  General,  U.  S.  A.,  escape 
of,  113. 

Preston,  General,  U.  S.  A., 
mentioned,  22. 

REYNOLDS,  GENERAL,  U.  S.  A., 
defeated  by  Lee  at  Chestnut, 
79- 

SAILOR'S  CREEK,  battle  of,  243. 

Scott,  General,  his  opinion  of 
Lee  as  a  soldier  in  the  Mexi 
can  War,  1 8;  considers  Lee 
"the  greatest  living  soldier 
in  America,"  22. 

Sharpsburg,  battle  of,  129. 

Sheridan,  P.  H.,  General, 
U.  S.  A.,  defeats  Pickett  at 
Five  Forks,  238. 

Sherman,  W.  T.,  General, 
U.  S.  A.,  mentioned,  166- 
167;  his  methods  in  the 
South  compared  with  Lee's 
in  Pennsylvania,  169-171; 
offers  terms  to  Johnson, 
251;  his  order  to  General 
Wade  Hampton  for  burning 
of  Columbia,  253. 

Shirley,  home  of  Lee's  mother, 

Smith,  General,  U.  S.  A.,  at 
battle  of  Sharpsburg,  132. 


South,  the,  resources  of,  61. 

"Spec,"  General  Lee's  dog, 
mentioned,  27. 

Spottsylvania  Court  House, 
battle  of,  206-208. 

Stratford,  Lee  estate  in  Vir 
ginia,  named  after  English 
estate  of  Richard  Lee,  4. 

Stuart,  J.  E.  B.,  General, 
C.  S.  A.,  Stuart's  Raid,  99; 
capture  of  his  Adjutant 
General  with  valuable  papers 
by  McClellan,  112;  capture 
of  Pope's  headquarters  by, 
112;  captures  Pope's  stores 
at  Manassas  Junction,  116. 

TAYLOR,  W.  H.,  COLONEL, 
C.  S.  A.,  Lee's  Adjutant 
General,  his  opinion  of 
Grant,  211. 

Thomas,  General,  U.  S.  A.,  his 
victory  at  Mill  Springs  men 
tioned,  89. 

"Traveller,"  General  Lee's 
war  horse,  mentioned, 
27. 

WASHINGTON,  GEORGE,  portrait 
of,  given  to  grandmother  of 
R.  E.  Lee,  7. 

Westmoreland,  County  of, 
mentioned,  3. 

Wise,  General,  C.  S.  A.,  men 
tioned,  77. 

Wolseley,  Viscount,  his  opinion 
of  Lee's  campaigns,  5;  his 
opinion  of  Lee  at  Antietam, 
141;  his  first  meeting  with 
Lee,  282. 

Wright,  Marcus  T.,  General, 
C.  S.  A.,  his  letter  Appendix 
A,  295-300. 


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